Decker

Hi everyone!

Here’s a brief summary of my visit with Dr. Handelsman today for my check-up:

Latest stats: Height: 36.6 inches - yes! I hit the 3 foot mark! I can play in the NBA now! (It also means I gained an inch and a half in 6 months!)

Weight: 27 lbs 6 oz - I gained about a pound and a half in that same time! Must be all that fruit!

They made me take off all my clothes. I kept asking mommy to put my pants back on, and finally grabbed them and tried to do it myself. My doctor was real nice and said I could keep them on if I wanted. (It was cold in there!)

I got ANOTHER shot. Geez - is this gonna happen every time? (Apparently not next time - phew!)

I got to take a toy from the treasure chest when it was all over! I picked out a really cool green dinosaur, and he sat with me at the table at lunch.

To conclude: Dr. Handelsman - nice. Shots - horrible. Free toys - awesome.

Have fun puddle splashing, everyone!

So there’s been this thing going on called ‘the olympics’, and while I don’t really understand all of it, it seems really cool! From what I can tell, it’s sort of like a grownup playgroup, held in the snow. I have a book about two dogs who go and play in the snow, and one of them is named Ted and he skis. Therefore, it only makes sense that anyone who skis is named Ted - so everytime I see a skiier on the tv, I yell out “Ted!” and “soh” (snow). Sometimes the grownups fall down, and then I say “uh oh!” because that’s what you do when you fall down! There are also grownups who ride on these really long and fast slides, and they are really good about sharing because they usually ride 2 at a time. Cool!

I have recently discovered that on one of my higher shelfs in my bedroom, I have a whole collection of cool stuffed animals. They are fun to take off of the shelf and organize and reorganize and play with and reorganize some more, and then put back up on the shelf where they came from. I believe in the idea of a place for everything and everything in its place, and so of course they always have to go back on the shelf in the exact same order. (For the record, it’s: Police Bear, Mama Bear, and Sully going up the left side, and then Daddy Bear, Baby Bear, and Frog going up the right side, with Mouse in the middle). Oh, and Mike goes up in the cupboard above my diaper basket. The only hitch is that all of these items and their proper locations are a good 1- 2 feet above my head. The solution of course is simple: just get mom or dad (or whoever I can snag) to pick me up and let me gather my little friends or reposition them back in their places. The problem I run into however is that for some reason my folks don’t always get that it’s a matter of immediate importance to do this routine mulitple times in a row, and they sometimes curb my style and make me wait until later (which always takes FOREVER!). Still, they are fairly obliging for the most part, so props to them!

Over the past few weeks, my mom kept taking this red blanket thing and running it through a loud machine with a gas pedal. I guess the machine wasn’t very well behaved, because she kept having to redo her work and saying something about “this is why I did so poorly in Home Ec”. Anyway, I guess the machine finally cooperated because suddenly the red blanket became a pair of overalls for me! At first I was kinda reluctant to put them on, but after I started wearing them I decided I looked pretty slick! They have blue stars for buttons, and I liked them so much that when Pammy tried to get me to take them off so I could put on my pj’s, I put up a fuss and tried to put them back on! We compromised, and she let me wear them to bed over my pj’s. I definitely looked stylish that night - red denim overalls over blue striped fleecy footy pj’s! Watch out, runways of Paris - I’m coming your way!

Actually, a LOT! Well everyone, I have really gotten the hang of this talking thing, and I am having a great time building up my repetoire and chatting with my family! Did you know that if you actually use words, that people are more likely to give you what you want the first or second time around? It’s incredible! Lately I’ve been trying out a little thing I like to call “Decker’s Word o’ the Day”; every day I try out a new word and see if I can surprise and/or impress my mom and dad (they’re a great audience). Some of my latest show-stoppers include: ‘cow’, ‘katil’ and ‘tully’ (much clearer now!), ‘ded’ (red), ‘bwow’ (brown), ‘toohtuh’ (turtle), ‘muk’ (mike, my stuffed toy), ‘baba’ (baby), ‘cah kah’ (cracker), and…’dowkah’ (Decker!). I also am enjoying this whole 2-word combo thing that I found out about recently - it lets you make your request even clearer and doubles the response time from your folks! I especially like to say “Mama (or name of whoever I am addessing), GOOOOOOOOOOO” (it means I want to go somewhere); and “Buh Bye, DADA!” (when Daddy leaves for work), or name the colors of items, like “buh (blue) carrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” (look there’s a blue car!). Oh, the possibilities are endless!