Learning Harmonica

The Bub learns to play on his great, great, grandma Hartl's harmonica.

Sandbox Days

Got Dote?

The Bub really, really wants to talk. He's been talking up a storm lately and is actually beginning to have detectable vocabulary. We can say anything to him and he'll repeat it back to us. Well, at least the first syllable. Or the first part of the first syllable. Whatever! I'm a new parent and I'll take pride in every accomplishment.

He and Nerdy came home the other night and when I answered the door he handed me a little rock he had picked up along the way home. When he gave it to me, he announced, "Rah!" Very good with the "r" sound, too. He also can say "Bar rah." Which is barrel, of course. It seems a strange early word, but Grandma knows why. Other B words include "Bah" for ball, "Bah-oh" for bottle, and "Bomba" for blueberry.

Sometimes the talking is not done with actual words, but by simulated conversation. We were on Skype with Nana and Zayde the other day, and he started talking loudly whenever we were speaking. Just like "Blah, blah, blabbedy blah!" as though he was contributing to the discussion. Then yesterday on speakerphone with Aunt Margot, he starts, "Blabbedy blah. Blah blah! blah blah blabbedy." He'll join conversations between Nerdy and I too, but this usually devolves into us shouting to be heard over his loudly-voiced opinions on the matter.

This is not to be confused with his reading aloud. At the sight of letters, numbers, or maps, he reads, "BLAGEM. BLAGEM. BLAGEM. BLAGEM." For some reason, it's always BLAGEM and never any other sound.

There's also the new word/obsession with "Dote." There's dote everywhere if you're looking for it and especially if your eyes are only one and a half feet from the ground. That's right: dirt. Dote in the apartment, dote in the lobby, dote on the sidewalk, dote in the grass, dote instead of grass, dote on my jacket, dote on the stroller, dote on the car, etc. etc. Sasha's world is a very dotey place.

The Gong Show

Most nights when it's Sasha's bedtime, Nerdy gives him a bath while I cook dinner. It's usually a quiet time, and often she sings him songs while he's bathing because he loves it. Tonight, though, he had a very strong opinion about her song choice. I was in the kitchen laughing at this conversation.

"Let's sing the ladybug song! One two three, four five six, seven eight-- "

"NAAAAAAH."

"How about Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and-- "

"NAAAAAAH."

"Should I do The itsy bitsy spider went up the-- "

"NAAAAAAH."

"OK. Um... Sing. Sing a song, sing it loud-- "

"NAAAAAAH."

"Oh, you love this one. One bottle pop, two bottle pop, three-- "

"NAAAAAAH."

Finally she hit the jackpot with the Elmo song. She was allowed to sing the whole song without interruption. And again and again and again. Every other suggestion received "NAAAAH" pronounced with a big smile.

He's a maniac, maniac, on the floor!

Friday morning. What 12 hours of sleep will do for a person! Sasha was running around like someone fed him coca leaves for breakfast. Running, running, running. Then he caught a glimpse of himself in the full-length mirror. And did the "Maniac" scene from Flashdance: running in place, then forward, then backward, then forward, grinning from ear to ear 'cause look at how high his knees are going and how fast his feet are moving and wow he's just SO COOL.

For those of you who don't know the scene I'm referring to because you're too young or too old or because you were living under a rock in the '80's, here's a clip.

(you really only have to watch from around :30 to :45, but I don't know how to edit video that isn't my own)