Decker

So yesterday when I woke up, my dad carried me downstairs to the living room and guess what? There was no furniture in it whatsoever! The couch was in the hallway, and everything else was gone! It was kinda cool, because I had more space to run around, plus totally unfettered access to the tv screen and buttons. But then…I got stuck eating my breakfast in the kitchen, instead of my usual spot by the window, which I didn’t like very much! And to make matters worse? Mommy and Daddy ignored me while I ate my breakfast, and instead they hovered around this big scary vacuum-looking type machine! Mommy called it a steam cleaner, and said she was gonna clean the carpet while Daddy and I went on a date together over in Berkeley. All I know is that that machine was SCARY looking, and I basically got extremely worked up about it! Luckily, they moved it out of my line of vision, and after a while I calmed down.

After that, my dad and I went and had a good time at his office and the park (I saw a real choo choo train!) and the playground, and then we came home! There’s still no furniture in the living room, but it’s like a big playspace all of my own! Woo hoo!

Well, actually, I don’t think anyone calls me mean! At least, I hope they don’t. I try to be a nice kid and do what my mommy and daddy ask me to and smile at pretty much everyone I meet! But as for the lean part? I went for my 18 month check-up on Tuesday (the 22nd, on which day I actually did turn 18 months! cool, huh?). Anyway, the doctor measured me and over the past three months I apparently  gained 1 pound and almost 2 whole inches! I’m now  23 lbs, 7 oz, and I’m 34 inches tall, which apparently still keeps me in the 90th percentile for height. Mommy says this explains why I kept popping the snaps on my pants! (Hey, I’m just doing my best to get real tall so that I can properly reach things off of the kitchen counter! heh heh). Also confirmed were the presence of 4 canines, so I now officially have 12 teeth! (Only 10 to go for a complete set! Will I get a prize with that?).

In addition to growing like a weed, I’ve been up to some other stuff as well:

* I’ve created a new game! The other night when Tully and Katil were playing with me in my room, I started to clap, and they joined in. Then, suddenly, I stopped - holding my hands about 1 inch apart, waited a few seconds, and then started again! They thought this was funny, so I did it a bunch more times. Then I tried it out on my grandparents and mommy and daddy. I think I’ll call it, “Decker says”.

* Daddy discovered that I like to brush my hair! And, if you give the brush and ask me to brush yours, I like to do that too! (Maybe I’ll be a stylist when I grow up).

* I have this hollow plastic tub, and Daddy showed me that if you put your mouth on the rim and talk into it, it makes a funny hollow echo-y noise. He ususally says something like, “Luke, I am your father, ooo la la la la…”, and then I take it from him and follow up with “lalalalalalalalala…”. Fun!

* I really like to go to the park, and Mommy bought me my very own little truck to take with me in the sand! Yesterday, it was really sunny so we went to Walnut Creek Civic Park and I was kinda unsure at first b/c there were SO many kids there - but then I saw a kid my age, and so I kinda tried to walk up to him and held out my truck to him. But he was shy too, so we didn’t really interact too much. I gave my best effort though! Civic Park has a fun slide for kids my size, plus a big choo choo train to climb on! Best of all, my mommy and I hung out at the gazebo and played with my ball and ate cheerios. Woo hoo!

* Oh! And I went to visit with my mom and Pammy’s friend Ellen last Friday over in Albany - she has a really cool house and she let me play with her sons’ old Legos and also the magnets on the fridge (the Simpsons! so neat!).

That’s all for now…I’m gonna take a nap! Yay, naps!

Hello there! Here are some of the things I’m up to this past week:

* I learned to set the table! The other night at Pammy and Cappy’s house, Tully showed me how to set the table and let me help her as she showed me. She carried me as we laid down the flatware and such, but I gotta say my favorite part had to be putting out the salad dressing bottles! In fact, the rest of the evening I kept trying to get the bottles back in my possession, because they are just so darn fascinating. The next night, my folks were cleaning up in the kitchen, and noticed I had gotten quiet. They came around the corner and sure enough, I had parked myself up on the dining table bench (a no-no, I know!), and was intently studying the two bottles of ranch and honey mustard that had been left behind. I was quite proud of myself!

* Though not expressing any verbal thoughts as of yet (at least, not in English), I am showing off more and more of my comprehension every day, just to keep my folks on their toes. Earlier today, I was playing with my wooden blocks and was sorting them by shape/size. I had one yellow triangle piece, and when my mom asked me where the other one was, I reached right over and picked it up! She and my dad gave me a lot of applause for that - woo hoo! I also have a puzzle with pictures of animals and things behind doors - each door has a different type of lock or latch to open. If you ask me where the horsies are, or the cows are, etc, I can open the right door for you - but I will then shut it again very quickly!

* Sorting is still my life. Today I found my plastic lego cow and my plastic cow from my tractor toy, and placed them both on the table together. I also like to sort puzzle pieces together (in places away from their puzzle bases), and before my bath I take all my floaty animal toys and gather them around on the lid of the toilet or on my mom’s scale. Speaking of baths…

* My routine (I highly recommend it for a very relaxing bath!) is as follows: Play with tub toys on toilet while mommy runs the water. Then take bath, primarily spending time in the tub occupied with foam letters and tub toys. Squawk mildly when your hair is washed. Open widely and smile for brusha brusha. Then, when you are bored or ready to get out, pull the plug and hand it to mommy. Stand up and allow yourself to be towled off. Then, while still naked, let mommy pick you up and do the following in this order: 1. Look at the decals on the bathroom mirror, and point to them while mommy names them (ie: mousie, ladybug, etc). 2. Reach over and pick up each of the rubber duckies by the sink one by one, and replace them in the same order one by one. 3. Play with the switches for the fan and the light until mommy announces you are done and it’s time to get dressed. Protest loudly when you are taken into the bedroom.

That’s it for now! I gotta go get ready for bed! I got milk to drink and footie pj’s to put on!

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d update you all on Decker’s latest m.o. for giving kisses. They’re still wet and slobbery, but he’s very funny and particular about when he gives them. Specifically, you have to have a blankie thrown over your head and his (like a tent) and then and ONLY then, will he lean forward and give you a big ol’ lamprey style open mouth baby smooch. You can get him to do this multiple times, if his attention holds. I’m thrilled to have discovered this new weird trait in our son, because as his mommy, I was getting really sad that he wouldn’t kiss me when I asked him to! Maybe he just needs the privacy…I wonder what this fortells for his dating life. Wait! He’s never allowed to date! He has to stay a little guy forever! No one will ever be good enough for him! (Beware, future daughter or son in laws!). Heh.

This is another one of those days where it feels just the same to me, but everyone around me keeps saying it’s a holiday or something! Mommy dressed me in red overalls, and the nice check-out lady at Trader Joe’s gave me a bunch of pink and white heart stickers! (That must be what people exchange when they celebrate today). So, hope you all have a good Valentine’s Day and enjoy your stickers!

OH! And, I’m high fiving again! After a long time in hibernation, my aunties got me doing it again last night (and giggling like a fiend).

OH! (Again) - And this weekend? My mom and dad took me up to Loomis for a baby shower (but I didn’t see any babies falling out of the sky, and no one was taking a bath, so I’m kinda confused about that part) for their friends Leisa and Rob. The shower was at GQ’s house, and Mommy stayed there with the other mommies for some sort of party, while Daddy and I got the much better end of the deal - I got to go play with a big kid! His name is Tildnn and he’s one year older than me and he let me play with all his balls and showed me his Chicken Dance Elmo, and then his daddy and my daddy took us for a walk and we had a great time! Poor Mommy - she had to stay at some boring ol’ party without any kids or good foods like cheerios or kiwi (just stuff with vegetables and some weird cheese called “feta”) - she put on a brave face though, cuz she sure was smiling when we left!. Poor Mommy - I bet she wished she could have played with Chicken Dance Elmo - oh well!

The kids from across the way came down to our driveway to play this afternoon. Before then, my mom and I were playing outside our open garage door, and she was trying to show me how to make pictures on the asphalt with these big fat colored chalk crayons. She kept making these weird scribbles and attempting to guide my hand to do the same. I love my chalk crayons, but what I love best is to gather 2 in one hand, and 1 in the other, and then bang that 1 chalk crayon up and down and make dots with it. I’m not sure Mommy understands my vision, but I’m thinking I’ll call it something cool, like “Pointalism”, or “D-d-d-d-d-d-d-DA!”.

Anyway, I’m doing my thing, making my marks, rolling my basketball around, and then these two kids coming barreling down the hill. The little boy is almost 3, and the little girl is 21 months. As I am very enamoured lately of kids older than me, I immediately got a big smile on my face, and walked up to the little girl and gave her my chalk. She then wasted it with scribbles on the ground, instead of dots. Whatever! The little boy kicked my basketball around and they both tried riding my scooter. Mommy made awkward conversation with their mom for a bit, and then they went back up the hill. It was fun to see other little kids, but also overwhelming - I liked it, but I did retreat into the garage behind the car a couple of times. After they left, Mommy let me go next door and pat the bunny rabbit statue a few times. Oh! And we got to go check the mail, too! I got a valentine from Katil with the Cookie Monster on it! It’s on our shelves in the living room, and if my mom asks me where the Cookie Monster is, I look up at the card and grin. Of course, I grin a lot. For all they know, it’s because I’m excited that the Simpsons are on. But I was looking up at the card, so let’s say it was because of the card.

Playgroup tomorrow! Yay!

Hi everyone! Here’s some stuff I’ve been up to…my days sure seem full - good thing I get two naps every day! (Mommy in particular seems quite jazzed about this - huh).

• A new Hippity Hoppers class!-  I finished my first session at the end of January, and started with my new group last Thursday. Since I’m a ‘veteran’ there, I walked right on out on the mat, and didn’t even cling to my mom, like some of those other littler kids - man, you can tell they are sooooo 13 months old! Me, I’m an explorer! (I only have to check for my mom every 3 minutes now - you know, just to make sure she hasn’t wandered off). I like to do my own thing when I go to my playgroup, but I guess I was in a social mood at the beginning and felt like welcoming the new kids, because I went over and grabbed a couple of the balls and then walked over and offered them up to my fellow munchkins! After that, I was off and stuck to myself, playing with the plastic house and the mini-slide. One of my playmates from last session, Colby, is in this group too, so that’s nice for me.

• A trip to play with the ducks! - Mommy and I went to bring my aunts Katil and Tully some lunch (they were working hard on Tully’s condo), and we got to walk around outside by the duck pond and chase the ducks! I got really silly and giggly - good times! Then, my mom took me over to the Moraga Commons and I had a playdate with Lee - I offered him a ball as well, and then spent most of the time running around and trying to come down the slide on my tummy. Something I didn’t understand was why it was ok to play with Lee’s sand toys, but Mommy said I couldn’t play with this dump truck and soccer ball that belonged to some bigger kids. I thought this was really unfair, but a few pieces of mandarin orange made me feel better about it. I split my lip again (my mom is getting paranoid about taking me to the playground - this was twice in one week!), but I mostly bled on her shirt, and a granola bar made that better too. Just offer me food - I’ll be happy again!

• On Sunday my folks took me out to the park and played with me outside our garage as well. I really like playing with my basketball and carrying sticks of chalk around in my hands! I also really like the slides, and playing with my mom and dad at the Gazebo in Civic Park. My stomping grounds!

• Last night, Mommy asked me to go find Big Bird. (I think she was trying to hint it was getting near bedtime). Well, I went to my toy basket and for the first time realized that I have both a stuffed Big Bird and a plastic musical Big Bird that plays my favorite song, “ABC“. I came over to my folks, one in each hand, and pressed the button to play “ABC“. And guess what? They sang the song for me! So I pushed it again - same reaction! I kept doing this for about 20 minutes, looking to each of their faces to make sure they were singing (sometimes one of them would cheat and try to eat their dinner instead), and when they actually did sing I got this look of pure joy on my face! My folks aren’t sure if the joyful look was due to the glory of hearing the alphabet song being sung, or the glory of realizing I can control my parents with a musical toy just like you can control the tv with a remote!