Decker

Hi everyone! Guess who turned two years old last Monday? Yup - ME! I, Decker J O’Steen, managed to double my age in only one year! How amazing am I? I celebrated this momentous occasion with numerous social shindigs (aka birthday parties) attended by a variety of family members, and each was a lot of fun, but I am still confused by one thing - why do people insist on setting my cake on fire? They did this last year, too - I hoped it was a fluke, but apparently not! Hey everyone - Smokey the Bear is watching you! At least I didn’t have as many candles on my cake this year as my mommy and daddy did on theirs!

Birthdays are cool - people give you these pretty boxes with pictures on them, and then they tell you to rip off all the bows and tear the paper! Now, before you all go getting ideas and all, let me tell you that I have learned first hand that the tearing of paper only applies to birthday presents. Magazines, books, etc…not so much! Now, because I am much older, wiser and worldlier toddler than I was a week ago, I feel I should share with you some of the latest things about me - here ya go!

MY STATS: I would like to tell you all that I was an extremely brave boy at my two-year check-up at the doctor’s, and that I took all the poking and prodding and measuring with elan and aplomb. I would like to tell you this, but my mommy has taught me that is wrong to lie; she also says that would be a fib up there with WMD! So, I will own up to the fact that I pretty much freaked out and sobbed all through the appointment, but luckily my mommy was there the whole time, so I could cling to her and I was ok. When it was all over, this s what we found out ’bout my stats! Height: 35 inches (75th percentile) - I grew a whole inch in six months! Weight: 26 pounds (25th percentile) - I grew 2 lbs 9 oz in that same time period! Head circumfrence - my mom can’t remember the number, but it’s 95th percentile! Gotta love those Jacob/Easter genes!

MY SKILLZ: I’m a busy guy, got lots to do and lots to see! I can: do a great ‘downward dog’ yoga stance (I think I’m just standing in a tripod so I can peek through my legs and say hi to you, but my folks say they wish they had my flexibility!); climb on and off of my tricycle and sometimes even look like I can pedal the pedals!; drive my bus all over the living room (thanks to my aunties, I got my own wheels! Look out everyone!); do “Wheels on the Bus” and “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” with my mommy and daddy; go up and down stairs without even using the wall for support; color pretty pictures (I like to test out each color of crayon and then move on); and I am signing more and more every day! I can sign ‘go’, ‘eat’, ‘bye bye/hi/thank you/go away’, ‘all done’, ‘ball’, and I’m working on “daddy”. I love music, and I like to play my xylophone and dance when a song is playing. (My dance involves primarily stomping my lil’ ol’ feet up and down).

MY GOODNESS!: One more thing, my mommy wants to include - this morning, when I was looking at my books while she was puttering, I brought over my “Noisy Trucks” book, and sat on her lap and opened it up…and proceeded to read it to her! The book has pictures of different types of trucks, and behind each flap is the sound it makes. Each time Mommy would say “What sound does ______ make?”,  I would approximate the sound as best as I could! Example: What sound does the dump truck make? Me: “Huhhhhhh Huhhhhh”; What sound does the fire truck make? Me: EEEEEEEEEEEEE! Mommy was pretty stoked! I ought to read to her more often and give her a break, poor thing.

Thank you again to everyone who made my birthday so fun and special! I love you!

Decker J, Age 2

I really like animals - I like to watch videos about them, read books about them, and if they let me get close enough (and my mommy and daddy say it’s ok) I like to pet them! Lately, my mommy has noticed that I’ve become especially intrigued by cats. Our next door neighbor has a cat named Tesla, and we play a game where he sleeps on the sidewalk outside, and then I go to pet him and he runs away! (I’m sure he means for me to chase him!). I think Tesla is fun, and I also recently discovered that I own a plush toy cat, and he actually WILL let me pet him, so I’ve been dragging him around the house with me lately. Bob the Builder has a cat named Pilchard, and there are pictures of Pilchard on my bubble bath bottle, which I always point out to my mom as we run the water for my bath. On Saturday, we were in the kids’ section at Nordstrom’s, and there were pictures of cats on the tiles on the floor, which of course I needed to show to my mom as well. Because they are fun (and easy to draw), Mommy drew a picture of a cat in front of our garage with my sidewalk chalk, and yesterday while she and Daddy were standing there talking about something or other that was pretty boring, I pointed to the chalk picture of the cat, and then immediately turned around and pointed to Tesla, who was sleeping on the sidewalk. I don’t see what the big deal was, I was merely demonstrating to my parents that there is a connection between symbolic pictures and real life things - but they both seemed to be pretty surprised and happy that I had shown this to them! Parents are so funny - I love watching them learn new things! They both keep telling me to enjoy the pictures and toys, b/c that’s as close as I’ll ever get to having a cat of my own! (I understand, I’ve seen what cats do to their allergies!).

Decker’s Picks for the Week:

Song - “I Often Dream of Trains” - from For the Kids volume 2

Book - Tie between “The Little Red Caboose” and “The Good Humor Man”

Sounds - “D d d d DA!”

Hi folks!

Wow, let me tell you - it’s been a busy week for me, and it’s only Tuesday! Here’s a quick review, coming right at you!

* I had my first brush with astronomy the other night! My mommy and I were over at Pammy and Cappy’s house for dinner on Sunday night, so my daddy could get some important work done for a presentation this week. The grownups were all going to watch an outdoor movie on the patio in back, after I went to bed. So the sun started setting, my mom takes me to bed, and…I cry with this look of heartbreak and woe, and sucker her into bringing me back out to join everyone while I drink some milk. I got to cuddle on Pammy, and kept pointing up at the sky because you won’t believe what I saw! There were these really pretty sparkly things way up there, and as it got darker there were more and more of them! They weren’t airplanes, but they were still pretty cool!

* I started a new playgroup on Monday called “Parent Tot Time”. It was in a different room (still at the community center), and I guess during the most of the week something named “Preschool” happens there. But this playgroup is just for kids 22 months to 3 years old (kids like me!), and it was fun for some of the time. I liked playing with all the cars and lining them up and parking them and then stacking them in the toy garage. I didn’t like having to stop for snack time, or washing my hands, or circle time (surprise). I just can’t seem to get into sitting down and singing with other kids - it’s not my style! When I was playing by myself, I was a quiet and pleasant little guy. But there were some other bigger kids (really old! like, 26 months!) who would come over sometimes and say “Mine!” and take something away. I just turned the other cheek and kept doing my thing, but they were really annoying. I think I saw smoke come out my mommy’s ears!

* I’ve been experimenting with walking backwards (my mommy calls it moonwalking, I don’t know why!), and yesterday I walked backwards all the way from our back patio to the side of the complex where everyone parks their cars! I was hecka proud! I celebrated by pointing out a truck to my mommy over and over, and then going back and splashing in my pool.!

* And…I spotted Bob the Builder and Scoop - LIVE! FOR REAL! IN PERSON! They were in Civic Park over in Walnut Creek, and I think they’re fixing part of the playground. Ohmygosh I was so excited to watch them working, and made my mommy hold me up so I could get a better view. (Also, I wanted her to hold me, b/c it was kinda loud and scary, too).

* Last but not least? After weeks of trying to show me how to say “all done” in sign language (for when I’m done with my dinner, etc), my daddy was surprised when I told him exactly that! I signed to him and then looked quite expectantly, like “Ok, that’s what you wanted isn’t it? Let’s get down from my highchair, now!”. Hee. I like to please the ‘rents, and keep ‘em on their toes, too!