FUNNIEST BOOK PAGE EVER

I totally want to recap our adventure to the beach, because we had a great time and a lot of great laughs.

But, last night you made us laugh so hard that I couldn't help but write it up immediately.

First of all, I was bathing you and talking to you all about bubbles (specifically the bubbles that come out of an empty bottle when you submerge it). You love bubbles and love to say "bubbbbb uhl." But then you recalled a different way to make bubbles. You stood up in the tub and grabbed my hair and tried to push my face to the water, like you do when we're in the pool and you want me to blow bubbles. You had me cracking up!

But, the best was yet to come.


During story time before bed, your Mommy was reading to you and you requested the Jungle Pop Up Book that you love so much. I've read this book to you a million times (by making up my own words, mind you, because if we linger on the page long enough to read the printed text, all pop up jungle animals would be as decapitated as the poor eviscerated chameleon). But, your Mommy read it to you with a new, more subtle approach to story telling.

You opened the first page to reveal the snake popping out from a tree limb and your Mom screamed "Snakey snakey snakey!"

And you just lost it!

You started laughing so hard and making the snake pop out again and again. You laughed so hard that you were coughing; you laughed so hard that you wheezed; you laughed so hard that I'm sure your belly was hurting. You laughed so hard that your Mom and I cracked up too!

But you kept laughing and laughing for what seemed like ages!

You laughed long enough that I just sat and soaked it up for a long time and then when it continued, I went and grabbed a camera. But it was out of battery. So I went back to the kitchen, grabbed my phone and recorded two more full minutes of you laughing your diaper off!

Man, just watching this video makes me smile.

Laughter is infectious, for real. This laugh could have started an epidemic!



SNAKEY SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE!

Chasing Cousins and other Beach House Fun

We just got back from a great trip to Galveston! It seems like not that long ago that you took your first trip to the beach a year ago; but boy what a difference one year has made!

But, before we get inot talking about the beach and water, the best surprise was to see you playing with your cousins.

You've interacted with other kids before, but you really haven't played with them. But with your cousins, especially Autumn, you really got into a playful mood. You chased her all over the beach house trying to get her pacifier. What a fun game!



Like I said- you are actually playing chase with her! Of course playing games with Mommy and Daddy is fun (like peekaboo), and you've tried to take Brady's pacifier a few times (and tried to take a few pacifiers at Little Gym), but to watch you just dive into this playful game for so long without being prompted to was just amazing. It made us realize how much you've grown!

When we weren't at the beach, you spent your time in the beach house playing with and laughing with (and being fed by) Addison, Autum, Grayson, Holden, Haley and Griffin.











You were definitely in your element. Even though the force is strong with you, we know that you still have a lot of learning to do before you can enjoy all sorts of fun games with your cousins. But, before we know it, you'll be playing right along with more "grown-up" games too!

Head of the Table

You're definitely an old pro at feeding yourself with your hands. I remember how excited we were when you learned how to grab food, and then pinch it more delicately (although you sometimes really just feel like grabbing food anyway and mushing it to smithereens). Lately you've even been chewing food, reaching in your mouth, taking the food out, looking at it and then putting it back in your mouth again.

Well, we're working on another couple fun and potentially equally messy eating milestones.

First off, you're really interested in how cups work and how to drink (or pour) liquid out of them.
It's a fun new toy that can leave you realllllly soaking wet.



Secondly, you've advanced to mostly eating whatever we're eating. This experiment has had varying degrees of success. But last night...oh man...last night you couldn't get enough of the chicken Basil Thai Fried Rice that I made. It had okra, tomatoes, eggplant and thai basil fresh from our garden (and mine had our fresh jalapenos in it, but I spared your Mommy and you that treatment). While cooking I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that you would probably not like it (we had struck out on a rice dish pretty abysmally a few nights before).

But you LOVED it!




You've had some experience feeding yourself yogurt with a spoon, but for the past two nights you've shown some real aptitude and creativity in this department. The second night was a bit cleaner than the first, and you were very vocal about how funny and awesome you thought feeding yourself actually was.





After your yogurt course, while Mommy drew your (much needed) bath, I bribed you into saying one of your new words on camera. With Graham Crackers in hand, you munched on (and said the word ) "Cooook keeehhhhh"s!

Water Baby

Since summer began, your Mom has been taking you to swim classes. Now, let's get one thing straight: you love the water, and you love the pool! You love splishing and splashing and bouncing. But, at first, you really really really hated being submerged. The swim school you attend, Emler, has a method of teaching babies how to hold their breath by literally tossing them into the deep end.

Okay, well, not literally. But they create a sensation of falling, which forces humans to automatically hold their breath. You are a human, so this applies to you too. You're doing a wonderful job at holding your breath under water, but the first couple times, when you surfaced, you were PISSED at your Mommy and the world for putting you through that.

But, slowly but surely, you've gotten used to it and are getting better and better at "swimming."

Luckily, last Friday I was able to go to Emler with you and Mommy and we practiced submersion a bunch. Throw in the Waterproof camera to that equation, and you've got pretty solid evidence of your submersion lessons. Granted, you still don't seem to love (or even like) being dunked, you seem okay with it now, which is good: water safety is very important, and learning things like holding your breath are key.



As fun as that seemed, your true love of water stems from bath time. You love splishing and all that other stuff in the tub too. But now you've figured out how to play with some of the cooler tubby toys in the bath. You also still really like to play with the one toy that is attached to you. Probably, as your Mommy puts it, because it's really the only time during the day that you have access to it.

But, I digress, bath time is, indeed, so much fun. And it's really cool to watch you discover actions and consequences in the tub (aka, figure out how your toys work).

Talkey

I can't believe that I'm just now doing this, but it's time to chronicle your first words, since now your vocabulary is rapidly becoming to large to commit to memory.

Of course, you started out by saying "Mama." Everything was "Mama," even your Mama!

Then you said "Dada" once. You haven't said it since. Although, you seem to like saying "papa," except it's more like "papapapapa."

But, your first real word that you said and associated it to one thing only was "fish." But you said "ishhhhhhh." You said it when you saw pictures of fish or fish in the pond or a tank in a restaurant. But, then you gave up on saying "fish."

Then came the big developmental portion of your vocabulary. It began with "car." Except you said it as "acah." But we know what you mean! Since you say it when you play with a car, watch cars go by our house with your Grandmas and when you point to (selected) cars in parking lots. I think "acah" was your first official word that stuck.

After that it's been getting wordy in the Weinstein house. You have a specific word for "Preston," but it can't really be written using the English alphabet. It kind of sounds like "Psdfasskjlljkb." But it's consistently used when describing Preston. you now talk all the time. When you started walking, it was like your feet could finally run, so your mouth does too. When you walk around the house you love to say "ohhhhh" "ohhhhh."

You love bubbles. We blow bubbles in the backyard all the time. You know where the bubbles and the wand are kept. So, one day not too long ago, you watched your Mom put her contacts in and you pointed to the upturned contact on her finger and said "Bubble!"

Then "fish" came back, except now it's more like "fffffff." I know this means fish because you and I stood on our back porch, and you pointed to the fish food, said "fffffff" and got really happy when I got the fish food and we fed the "fffffff"s.

And now you can say "yes!" Except it's more like "Yettttttttthhhhhhhhhhshshshs," but, It's definitely an affirmative answer. It can often be provoked by asking if you want to go upstairs, or if you want a cookie.



Speaking of cookies, Mimi and Pops asked if you wanted a cookie and instead of saying "yetttttthhhhsshshs" you said "cooook eeee." So now you can say cookie too!

And you also know can say what noise a dog makes: "arf!" or is it "woof!" The word you say could be either, but it definitely refers to a dog. So that's good.

Getting you to talk on video is actually pretty challenging, since the second the camera starts rolling, you normally want to eat the camera, or see the other side of it. But, when you're on a roll, you're on a roll. Here's "a cah" and "arf!"



It's always been great talking to you, but the conversations (which started as rather one-sided) are now on their way to being full-fledged chats. You definitely understand a lot more than you can say (you know what to do when we say "high five," "bouncey bouncey," "bath time," "hug," "be nice," "food," "water," "ear," "nose," "belly button," "cat" and tons of other words), but your mind is working all the time on figuring out how to say these things. You mouth words when we're reading; I swear you're so close to saying "boat" the other night while reading your new favorite, "The Going to Bed Book." I know soon enough you'll be saying complex sentences. But until you start talking back, we're going to cherish ever word. Even if your "Dada" has to be "Papapapa" for the time being.

Laugh it up!

You love to laugh and love to make other people laugh. Typically, you get good laughs by laughing yourself, which then makes you want to laugh again.



It's gotta be one of the all-time best games ever.

Art Baby: A Day at the Museum

Over the weekend, we spent a whole day at the Dallas Museum of Art. They were having a "BooksmART" event, where authors and illustrators came to talk about their craft, sign some books and lead workshops. One of your Mommy's favorite illustrators/authors (her illustratin' idol, in fact), David Wiesner, was one of the stars of the day. So we stalked him at the museum.

First we heard a lecture from him. He had a Powerpoint showing drawings from some of his great books. And you got really excited and vocal when the giant frogs (from "Tuesday") and lizards (from "Art & Max") were shown on the screen. You made it through about half the lecture before I decided to duck out with you. You weren't getting fussy, but you were maybe getting too excited and screeching and pointing, so you and I had some Daddy & Aidan fun time around the museum while Mommy finished listening to the lecture.

You had a blast looking at all the cool art and a few of the children's attractions they had there.

It was also a very flattering day for me because of the transitive property of compliments.

A lot of people stopped me to tell me how adorable you are. One woman even stopped me to say that you were a beautiful boy with gorgeous eyes.

Then a few minutes later, a Museum person observing you riding on my shoulders stopped us and said that you looked just like me.

Therefore, ipso facto, I, too, must be adorable!

But, enough about me!

After we met up with your Mommy after the lecture, we went and grabbed our picnic lunch while Mommy waited in line to get Mr. Wiesner's autograph in all 5 of his books that we own. It was hot as blue blazes, so I fed you a banana in the shade for the most part while your Mom waited.

But then we got to the front of the line and blammo! You, me and your Mom met David Wiesner!

Then we fed you your delicious lunch in the shade of the museum trees and the Dallas skyline!


But, being the s-m-r-t parents that we are, we knew that you needed to nap (it was already nearing 1:30 and you hadn't had your 11 o'clock nap yet!). So we decided to take a stroll around the museum in the hopes that you'd fall asleep.

In one empty gallery, we thought we had lulled you to sleep. But then you discovered how to make an echo and then filled the gallery with some underwater echolocation noises.



So we had to take you somewhere less entertaining. And we found it: a one-room exhibit of architecture line drawings did the trick! Good night, Aidan!

But, then we hit a problem. The area for the next event, a workshop, was a no-stroller zone! But you needed to nap...so we decided that you'd spend your nap in my arms. But, problem two: my arms would fall off if I had to hold you for over an hour. So, solution: home-made sling! Your mom tied my shirt (which had previously served as a picnic blanket) ((good thing I wore two shirts)) around you and me and made a civil-war style sling. I worked perfectly! I could hold you but spread some of the weight to my shoulders. And, not-so-secretly, I relished every moment of cradling you in my arms and having you sleep on my shoulder. You don't do that too often any more!



So, we parked the stroller and stood in line for Wiesner's workshop. You slept for an entire hour in my arms, but when you woke up, you woke up excitedly. You found yourself in an art room and started excitedly vocalizing at all the drawings and cool crafts around. Once you were done cuddling and pointing, you were ready to join in the fun. So we got you a pencil and a piece of paper, and you went to work doing your own full-body, super-excited illustration!

While your picture will certainly be hung up on the side of our fridge, it's really the whole adventure that I'd like to put in a frame and hang up on our wall-- that way, we'll never forget it. But, I guess this blog entry will do.

And, at any rate, the Museum's just around the corner. I suspect that we'll be spending many a fun day in the museum, and maybe one day, we'll be there to see yours and your Mommy's artwork hanging up on the wall!