Current stuff and a little red monster

Today James was doing all sorts of things and I just kept thinking ... gotta right that down...should post about that...One of my uncles told me that my aunt used to jot notes about little funny stories or things their little kiddies did when they were growing up in a notebook. I like to think of this blog as that for me and sometimes, it is what it is - a jotting down of funny little stories.

James likes to "cheers" with us. Yep. He'll hold his milk and say "ching!" and motion his cup toward us and then I'll ask him, "You want to cheers?" We get a yes from the little man and then we cheers.

A-boom. This word just used to mean fall down. A-boom = when we fall. One day about a month ago, we were walking down by the river and we fed some ducks left over rolls we had and then kept on our way. On the way back, we stopped to feed them again and I said, "James look! The ducks ate so much, they fell asleep!" James just kind of looked at me and said, "A-boom?" And then I stumbled around and through my sentences trying to explain 'falling' asleep wasn't the same as falling but you use the same word but you could say go to sleep instead but it all means the same thing. And James' eyes were glazing over. The same look people give me when they ask what my research is on - begins with earnest interest and then - boom - glazed over :) So long story short (too late), every time we get ready for nap or bed time, James says, "a-boom" - falling asleep. He even pretends to put his little pals Bear and Tiny to 'a-boom' - it's really cute.

At night now, after Dad finishes reading, says good night to James and leaves the room, James says to him, "Ni Ni Daddy." And as I rock him and he slowly gets sleepy, he'll whisper, "Ni Ni Mom." Heart melting. We always answer, "Ni Ni James." 

And now, for this guy - you may have heard of him - ELMO.

Now, here's the interesting part. You may be thinking, well yeah, the kids see Sesame Street and then they're all over Elmo. Well, it's different for James. James has never seen Sesame Street. James has never watched television. He doesn't know that Elmo exists outside of the boxes and cans of Earth's Best food or his Band aids. He knows Cookie Monster, Grover, Big Bird and Elmo because of Earth's Best.

James loves them all. I cannot imagine what he'll do when he sees they literally exist - that they have voices. That they move and sing and dance and make you laugh. It'll be a big day when that happens :)

Anyway, James was in for a surprise when Mom found an old Elmo toy/doll that had been given to her. It now belongs to James and even sleeps with James and Tiny and Bear - he's a part of the gang officially. He is loved. And James saying Elmo is really, really, really cute.  

Speaking of talking, James is talking up.a.storm. There's probably a new word every day and he loves to pretend to talk on the phone. He loves to call Daddy at work and also Volare - an Italian place up the street - and order food. We don't order from them a lot - promise! - Liddy and James pretended to call them when Mom and Dad were in San Fran and now the phone call is a part of almost every day :) The other thing James is doing is reading. There's pretend reading and also a little reading reading. We're not sure if it's just memorization from us reading it, using the pictures, etc, but it's the beginning of reading and it's really cool to see it all happening. His favorite book right now is "Go Dog Go."

He'll say, "Geen Woof Woof Up ... Yeyo woof woof down." Pretty cool stuff.

And also, he runs away from Mom and her camera now - the first and last shots took me about 10 minutes and were the only usable ones from about 20 shots. The others were the back of his head or blurs :) Ah, two. At least in our case, the "two-ness" is balanced by hilarity on a daily basis. James is actually really funny. He has a really good sense of humor and makes himself laugh and other people laugh too - I'm sure all parents feel this way though.

We're just so lucky to have our little guy :)  

We love you little man :)