Monday, May 24, 2010

WHAT did you say?

I've heard stories about kids coming home from school with colorful new vocabulary. But I didn't think it would start until he was 5 or 6. I was wrong.

Someone in our house passed gas rather loudly, and our sweet Biscuit pointed and said, "Poot!" Then he grinned.

Great! I can't wait for that one to come flying out at just the right moment.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

NOW he plays with it

As is the case with most kids nowadays, Biscuit has WAY too many toys. And honestly, he does play with most of them.

But in an effort to gain back a little space in the living room, I decided to keep an eye on his toy inventory to see if there were any I could pass along to some of his friends.

There's a toy he got as a hand-me-down where you push balls through sections on the top, then the balls roll through the innards of a little tower and spit out one of four holes at the base. And of course, this process is accompanied by music that was cute the first 85 times we heard it.

So I told Jeff last night that I hadn't seen him mess with that toy in a couple of weeks, so I thought I could just weed it out and hand it down as it was handed down to us.

Guess what he has been obsessed with ALL DAY?!? You guessed it. The toy I had planned to eliminate from the stockpile.

I'll give it another week and see what happens.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Using his words

Biscuit's vocabulary is growing every day. But he still uses his first and favorite words ... a lot.

Dada, Mama, ball, car, baby, dog and duck. We hear those words about 85 times each day.

When Biscuit and I go to Target together, we have a routine. I park beside a buggy return because it's easy to return the buggy when we come out. Then I take Biscuit out of his car seat, and we head across the parking lot.

"You have to hold my hand when we walk in the parking lot," I tell Biscuit. So he wraps his little hand around my finger, and we head to the store.

Target has these big, red balls out in front of the store. I don't think they have a purpose, except for decoration. On each trip, Biscuit has to touch no less than three of those balls. And of course, he has to announce to everyone who passes, "Ball. Ball. Ball."

Yesterday, he tried something new. He walked up to one of the balls and kicked it. Then he staggered back and said, "Ow." I didn't even know that he knew what "ow" meant.

Once we get into the store, we get a buggy and start our shopping. As we pass the photo department, Biscuit says, "Dog. Baby. Ball. Dog. Baby. Ball." On the back wall of the photo department, there are pictures of a dog with a ball and a father and a baby. Then he waves to the workers at the service desk. Sometimes they wave back. Sometimes they don't. He doesn't really care.

As we go through the store, he announces every baby he sees, whether it's a real baby, or a picture somewhere, or on a box or on a store sign. He also announces every ball, car and dog he sees. Oh yeah, he's recently added cats to his repertoire. Although, he pronounces it sorta like cot.

As we go through the baby section (and we ALWAYS go through the baby section), he points to diapers, sippy cups and a few other items and says, "Mine. Mine." He knows that those are things we have at home for him.

The only problem I usually have with him is if we pass anything that he likes to eat. It doesn't matter if it's crackers or his brand of juice or heaven forbid "nananas," he thinks he's supposed to have some ... right then. I can usually distract him with a snack from my pocketbook or by showing him something cool in the store.

When it's time to check out, I try to wait around until there's a short line. The boy, much like me, doesn't have much patience when it comes to waiting for things.

Then the conversations start with the cashier. "Hey. Hey. Hey." to start out. Then he'll name anything in our buggy that he can say, "Shoes. Nananas. Mine."

Then he starts with the goodbyes. "Bye" to the cashier, complete with a wave. Then "bye" to everybody we pass between the cash register and the car.

And of course, he has to point and name every car and truck in the parking lot.

It's amazing to watch my little man grow. He's turning into his own little person. And if my little boy continues to like shopping as much as my big boy does, I'll be one lucky mama.

Baaabaaayyyyy!!!

I have no explanation for why he's doing this voice, but it's quite funny.


New skills

Now, if I could just teach him to do windows ...

Friday, May 14, 2010

A new exhibit

Biscuit and I learned today how the animals at the zoo feel about being on display.

One of our neighbors came over last week to see Biscuit. She said she never sees him outside and wanted to check in and see how he's growing.

When we go outside to play, we always go in the back yard. It's fenced in. That's where Biscuit's toys are. And that's where my swing is. So it makes sense.

But it didn't occur to me that the neighbors around the cul-de-sac might be interested in seeing Biscuit every once in a while.

So when I got home from work today, I let Biscuit walk to the mailbox with me. Then we hung out in the front yard for a while.

One of our neighbors was cutting his grass, but when he saw us playing, he turned the mower off and came over. He and Biscuit had a nice conversation.

Then our neighbors from across the street stopped by in their van as they were leaving. They had a conversation with Biscuit, too.

Then another neighbor waved at us from his yard. Just a minute later, his wife was walking over to our yard. She said he ran in the house and yelled, "The baby is out! The baby is out!" So she came over to see him.

It was really nice showing off my boy. We lucked out in the neighbor department. We have really nice people living around us.

But man, I sure did feel on display this afternoon. It's like Biscuit and I were the new pandas at the zoo!

No funny videos

You would think that "America's Funniest Videos" would be a safe thing to watch with Biscuit, right? You'd be wrong.

Every time they show people getting hit, he reaches toward the TV and cries.

Every time they show somebody falling down, he reaches toward the TV and cries.

Every time they show an animal making a weird noise, he reaches toward the TV and cries.

Are you sensing a pattern here?

I guess that means no more "America's Funniest Videos."

Monday, May 10, 2010

It must be a duck

The old saying goes that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.

My Biscuit baby showed us a little logic of his own.


When he saw seagulls flying, he pointed and said, "Bird. Bird." (Of course, it sounded more like "Buhd. Buhd.")


But when he saw sea gulls on the beach in the edge of the water, they were ducks.


According to him, birds + sky = birds, but birds + water = ducks, even if they're the very same birds.


Makes sense to me.

Feeding Biscuit on vacation

I was pretty disappointed in many of the children’s menus at the restaurants we went to on our trip. The choices were hot dog with fries, chicken strips with fries, hamburger with fries and grilled cheese with fries. No veggies in sight.

So Biscuit’s diet on our trip wasn't anywhere near ideal. I had to give him instant cheese grits at the condo after the rest of us ate a really nice seafood dinner.


The one part he did get to enjoy at one dinner was the dessert … fried strawberries! Yes, I said FRIED strawberries. They dipped fresh strawberries in pancake batter, then fried them, then rolled them in cinnamon and sugar. Jeezy Pete were they good!


Of course, I think the batter … and the frying part … and the cinnamon and sugar sorta takes away the nutritional value of the strawberries, but it was well worth it.


We have a pretty good variety of places to go at home. One restaurant serves mac ‘n’ cheese with sides of black beans or stewed apples. Another place has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with yogurt and fruit. Another place has a kid-size meat and three or a veggie plate.


I was hoping I was finally done with having to carry a full Biscuit meal in my pocketbook everywhere we went.


I figure the more teeth he gets, the better he'll be able to eat. He's not shy about trying new things, so getting him to eat is hardly ever a problem.


Maybe we can find a better selection of meals for him on our next trip.

Little Jefe

Biscuit got a book for Easter all about how Little Bunny helped Little Chick pick raspberries, then Little Bunny helped Little Chick fly his kite, then Little Bunny helped Little Chick … well, you get the idea.

Jeff thinks it's funny to add even more "littles" to the story, as in ... Little Bunny helped Little Chick pick up his little toys and put them in his little toybox before he got in his little bed.


So when we took a walk on the beach this morning and saw a horseshoe crab on its back, Jeff used his foot to flip it back over. Then we watched it swim out to sea.


Then Jeff looked at me and said, “See, Little Jefe helped Little Horseshoe Crab turn over on his Little Stomach so he could swim out in the Little Sea.”


He THINKS he’s funny!

Trip to Savannah

We spent this past week in Savannah and Tybee Island. Jeff, Biscuit and I and Jeff’s parents left Monday morning and traveled 5½ hours to get to a condo we rented right where the Savannah River meets the ocean.

We spent a day in the Historic District of Savannah, where we took a trolley tour to get our fill of city history. Then we toured a beautiful church, walked along the riverfront and ate at The Pirate House (part of which includes the oldest building in Georgia and is supposedly quite haunted).


We also visited the Tybee Island Lighthouse. Jeff and his dad climbed the 178 steps to the top, and his mom, Biscuit and I stood at the bottom and waved at them. We had enough fun throwing a little football around in the parking lot. Plus, we weren’t anywhere near as tired as the climbers were.


We spent some time walking along the water, where we saw horseshoe crabs, jellyfish and lots of birds. Biscuit wasn’t quite as freaked out by the water. I think it was two things: 1. The water was a whole lot warmer than it was the last time we were at the beach, and 2. Since we were at the mouth of the river, the waves weren’t as big or loud.


As much fun as the beach and Savannah were, I think our boy’s favorite part of the trip was riding the elevator up to the third floor to our condo. The elevator had quite a jump when it took off and when it stopped, so it provided a fun ride and lots of giggles.


Biscuit got a T-shirt from Savannah and one from Tybee Island, and I've started a postcard box for him so he can see the places he's been. All in all, it was a good good trip.

We left to come home Friday afternoon. Biscuit still travels really well, and fingers crossed, I hope that will continue.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Bad pants

Do you think if Biscuit grabs a pair of his pants from the laundry basket and throws them in the trash can, it's a sign he doesn't want to wear them anymore?