Author: Tia

I’ve heard him say twice that his left shoe came off, and both times he was correct! So I was talking to him about left and right, trying to find out if he really did know which was which. He doesn’t, but when I said, “No, that’s your left foot, and that’s your right foot,” he said, kick-stomping his left leg: “And that’s my bear foot.” I thought he had said ‘bare’ foot, until, after a pause, he kick-stomped his right leg, and said, “..and that’s my kitty foot.”

Moving his finger along the writing on our exercise ball, he slowly ‘read’, “It says you will bounce on the ball. Can you get me on the ball, Mom?”

He also called the ball “fuge” instead of “huge” and couldn’t correct it even after much tutoring.

He called dandelions “lion daddys”. I corrected him and now he calls them “daddy lions.”

He tried cutting his own pancake and said with much enthusiasm, “I did it! Is that so awesome, Mom?”

This morning he lay next to the subwoofer of our computer speakers and listened to the music, saying to the bass “dum dum dum..”

Yesterday Mago took off his own diaper and wandered around. In the bathroom, he stood and peed right onto the tile floor. It was too late to stop him, But I said “No – !” – he turned to see my rebuke, and then frightened, he turned back on his heel and ran, slipped on his own pee, and fell flat down on his side. Fortunately he landed on the carpet just outside the bathroom, not on the tile.

When Alex goes to work, Mago repeats several times, “You lose your daddy!” in a small whimper, and thereby convinces himself that this is something to be very sad about indeed. I identify it with the way I used to make up songs that would make me cry.

He often says, “I’m a going to work, Mama.” and “Daddy’s going a work.”

I decided to show him some of “The Incredibles” which he liked a lot. When it got intense, he said “This is scary, Mama.” I said “Do you want me to turn it off?” and he said “Uh-huh.” Later in the day he said, “Mama? Watch the scary movie?” I said “Do you really want to watch it?” He nodded.

He loves to touch his belly button with one finger or pinch it as a self-comforting technique.

The other day he had his shirt off and said (stuttering for a while, searching for the right words), “I have a fat belly.” he threw his arms above his head and stretched, sucking his belly flat. He repeated this a few times before I decided I better convince him his belly is just fine.

Last night he woke up crying, “I’m ready, Mama! I’m ready to go!” Earlier that day I had promised him we’d go somewhere in the car, but we never made it out the door – now at night he still wanted to venture out. After refusing to go back to sleep at 1 a.m. he climbed over the crib rail and opened his bedroom door! He isn’t even two yet! I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen until kids are between two and three. He did it again after his nap today – we heard a thump and whimper through the baby monitor, but he was fine – so we got him to show us how he did it, me kneeling to catch him. It was really something to watch, he was quite the gymnast. He hoisted himself up the rail, levering off the corner of the crib, over the top, turned around and dropped straight down, catching himself with his hands on the rail, hanging a foot above the floor on the side of the crib. So we got out the toddler bed I bought at a garage sale last summer for $25. A blue car shaped plastic form. He is now happily in his new bed (for the night, I hope) at 6:45 p.m!