The Little Kahuna

Jack had a great time during the weekend before last at the beach at Amelia Island (his first visit to an ocean as a toddler). He would point at the vastness of the sea and say, ever so keenly, 'Muh!' (his word for all liquids).

His vocabulary is growing exponentially now. Of course, 'beach' and 'pool' entered his lexicon at Amelia. It was also there that he finally started calling Hope something other than 'Papaw'... she is now 'Mehmeh' to Jack. Daddy and Mama are still probably going to address cards to her with 'YoNanaMamawMehmeh'.

At home we read a lot of books and magazines with Jack. His current favorites are Railways and Rhymes (a Thomas and friends book) and Wired magazine (his potty read). We can't believe the number of things he can name now. Nowadays you often only have to say a noun a couple of times for him to remember it. He's not really there yet with adjectives...sometimes he'll mimic ones he hears, but he doesn't tend to use them on his own. His verbs are pretty much 'EatEat', 'Go', 'Ride', 'PeePee', and 'PooPoo'. (Are there many more verbs needed to describe a day in the life of a todder?)

He's become quite the parrot with words that he doesn't understand. When he gets upset, Mama often consoles him by murmuring, 'I know...I know, Poor Baby.' Lately when he gets fired up and fussy, he sobs and screeches 'I know! I know!'

Kiddo also seems to have made up his own word game. One person says 'Beebah'. The next person says 'Kookah'. Repeat. We don't know if this is his take on a game he overheard at daycare if he just decided on his own that these syllables just sound good together.

Except for a struggle with napping, Jack's at an immensely fun age. He loves to be tickled. He's only gotten more quick to laugh, and he can entertain himself for a very long time with toys and books. You just have to keep an eye out for stunts that tempt fate and gravity a little too much. He takes great delight in balancing precariously and throwing himself backwards into things. (We wonder if he might be an Xtreme sport kind of guy when he gets older...Mama inwardly makes the Marge Simpson noise at that prospect.)

Crocodile Jack

The other day there were only two kids on the playground - one dressed as a pirate and Crocodile Jack here. The other kid (who was maybe 3) asked, "Is that little boy wearing a cowboy hat?" I said, "I guess he is." The pirate wistfully said, "I don't have one of those." He then happily showed me all his pirate gear including his 'periscope' .

El Primo Gigante

Back in Tucson we only had local TV channels. We'd often watch Univision, a Spanish language channel whose programming announcements were usually the most entertaining parts...everything seemed to be announced with a comically booming voice, no matter how mundane the television lineup. We always liked the announcements for Sabado Gigante (Gigantic Saturday), a rather kooky and colorful variety show. We used to entertain Jack and each other by speaking in the Sabado Gigante announcement voice. When I think of Jack's cousin Maddux these days, in my head I say "El Primo GiGANTEEEE!" (The Gigantic Cousin) As I mentioned in the Mother's Day Weekend post, Dude is a big kid. At 3 years 8 months and some change, he is about as tall as I was when I was 9 or something. Here are some Madman Maddux pics and a link to all the photos that Uncle Tony and Aunt Katie took that weekend.

You Say Potato...

Mama is no sound engineer but she can do a cute remix. Click the play button to hear a sample.





Kiddo is talking up a storm. No sentences yet, but we're shocked at how well he can express himself.

For instance, there is just not a lot of ambiguity when he's pleading "Nee! Nee!" and pointing at Mama's boobs.

He's also become quite the little fetcher. You tell him to go get a book. He brings back a book. You tell him to bring you your shoes. Okay so it's anybody's guess just whose shoes he will bring, BUT you are pretty much guaranteed at least one shoe. Unless, of course, he gets sidetracked along the way by choo choos. He can't get enough of cars and choo choos.