Jammin'

Jamming on the guitar. Some translation for extra humor: after the Mamu song, he introduces his next number, "Now, candy song."

The candy song has a backstory. A few minutes before this video, he was allowed a piece of candy from Aunt Mollie's Halloween package that he had just opened. After finishing it, we had this conversation:

"More?"
"No. Only one."
"More candy?"
"No. One piece is enough."
"More candy please?"
"No."
"WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! CANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I suggested that we sing a sad song about how we want more candy but can't have it, and started strumming and singing. Amazingly, this worked to distract him. And to make this video even funnier.

Bathtub Misery, Exhibit A

That Wasn't So Bad, Was It?

One of the worst tortures the pipsqueak endures is a shampoo.

To start what Carrie calls the The Seven Fights of Bedtime, the wind-down bedtime routine begins with a bath.  Knowing this is the beginning of the end of the day, he usually runs away crying as soon as we announce the nightly bath.  The protest lasts while we wrestle him out of his clothes and into the tub, where he stops crying the minute we get his feet wet and he sees the bath toys.  But then soon enough, bath is over and it's time for the dreaded shampoo.  In an attempt to make it faster and therefore less painful, Nerdy and I team up to hold him still and keep the soap and water out of his eyes.  Resisting all attempts, he screams bloody murder the whole time, "NOOO, NOOO, MAMU, NO!  MAMA, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"  It's outrageously dramatic.  Once I have him pinned between my knees and the washcloth over his eyes (or in the general vicinity), Nerdy washes his hair at lightning speed.  Of course, he writhes and cries through the whole ordeal which makes it really hard to keep the soap out of his eyes and the water out of his nose.  And no amount of reasoning with him will induce cooperation.  Immediately after we finish washing his hair, Hulk Hogan/Mr. T team-style, he stops, turns calmly to us and says, "Oh. That wasn't so bad, was it?" and smiles a cherubic smile.  Seriously.  After every shampoo fight.

As you can guess, he didn't come up with that phrase on his own.  I said it to him once after the shampoo match, and now that vaguely creepy sentence is repeated back at me after every hair wash.

Then we all move on to the Diaper Changing Table Take-down.

The Puzzler

The boy loves his puzzles.  He has quite a few, though he's graduated from the chunky puzzles and peg puzzles to regular jigsaw-style puzzles with interlocking pieces.  Because I have nothing better to do right now than show you, dear readers, the path he's taken, I'm posting images of them here.  He can't actually do the spaceship 48-piecer, but he'll try to put the spaceship area together before he finds an interesting dustball to investigate.

Currently, however, he can't get enough of this amazing set we found at a stoop sale in our 'hood.  It's a set of 6 cardboard puzzles, 9 pieces each, with beautiful and simple images.  They are also very well-designed for a child's eye with colored borders and simple but contrasting backgrounds.  At first, he did them all, over and over again.  I used to ask him, "OK, which one is next?" and he'd get excited about choosing one.  Then after a few weeks, he decided that he loved only Peacock, and would put the peacock together over and over, announcing, "Peacock! 'gain!" "Peacock, Mamu, 'gain!" And now Bear has been welcomed once again into the fold, and occasionally Elephant or Turtle.  He may be fickle, but he does not mess around once the puzzle has begun.  Intense concentration, start to finish.

Jack-O'-Lantern

Yay!  We carved a pumpkin today.  Easier than usual with specially-designed pumpkin-carving tools courtesy of Nana and Zayde.  I thought Sasha would like pulling out the junk and sorting the seeds, but he recoiled from gooey stuff inside.  But when we lit a candle inside the end result, he was beside himself with joy.  He couldn't sit still and didn't seem to know even what to do with his hands because he wanted to touch it, but also not really.  Anyway, I got him to pose for a few photos.  They're blurry, alas, because he wouldn't sit still for the slower shutter speed required in the darkened room.  That's right, he wouldn't stop moving for one full second.

In the last picture, he wanted to show off his play-doh ice cream cone for the camera.  I made it out of boredom while watching him make 200 cookie-cutter apples, but he got so excited about it he wouldn't even pretend to share it with the dinosaurs. He cried when it fell apart.  But we put it back together (with reinforcements) and he is content with our morning of pumpkins and play-doh.

Morning Improvisations

Video captured by Mama this morning on her cell phone.

Apple-Picking 2010

Last weekend we marked Sasha's second autumn on the planet by going apple- and pumpkin-picking with Nana and Zayde.  The weather was perfectly gorgeous, with sunny skies and a cool breeze.  The Bub had a good time stumbling through the tall grass and eating as many apples as possible.  He also loved the wagon until he got crowded out by the fruit.  And I had a good time eating the world's best cider doughnuts. Yum.

Satisfied with pumpkin selections.

Following Mama's lead and taking a rest in the orchard.

Eating an apple in each hand.

Ever-vigilant undercover agents scoping out national security orchard threats.

Three generations.

Ready to go after 10 apples and a bottle.