Having Conversations

The brain ticking inside the Bub has surprised me lately.  The other day, we were sitting at a cafe having coffee and a cookie, and I told him that we had to leave soon so that I could show someone our car.  As expected, he didn't respond or seem to care one way or another, as long as he had time to eat his sparkly star shortbread.  We chatted about other things, the bright sun and the cute dog, then examined the rusty bicycle, wondered who ripped the subway sign and who was going to fix it, etc.  Then a block into our walk home, he turned to me and asked, "Who's looking at our car?"  I answered and smiled because it was the first time I noticed  him carry a thought through various distractions and still pick up the thread of an earlier conversation.  It felt like a big development, the budding ability to carry a thought beyond the immediate present.

A few days after this, he was talking on the phone to Mama while she was on the train to DC.  They said hi, he asked where she was, then "How long is the train ride?"  Again I was struck by the maturity of the question.  Like most 3-year-olds, he soaks up everything he sees and hears, but until now the way he experienced the world was related only to his immediate present sensory experience. (Why bribery is so effective, I think.)  Now I've seen him concern himself with experiences that aren't directly tied to his own.  I'm not sure if this is as big a developmental milestone as it feels, or if it just reflects the fact that I spend far less time with him than I used to, and so his growth is happening outside my observation.  Anyway, it's fun to see and hear him get older, especially when we still have conversations like this that keep him young:

"I can watch 8 movies."

"Oh really?"

"I'm serious. 
[Glowering] I have a serious face.
I know everything."

Hannukah II

Yes, it's a few weeks too late, but I got him singing on video:

Just One

We received our American Museum of Natural History membership cards yesterday (Thanks, Duggans!) and the Bub is excited to go again to see the dinosaur bones.  He desperately wanted to go this afternoon, but we couldn't.  He threw a complete fit, throwing himself at me in tears, begging, "Please! Just one bone! I just want to see one bone!!!"

Family Holiday Visit to Wisconsin

That's Mr. Sasha to you, Santa.

Kids in their Christmas finest.

Beckett's new light-up ringing cell phone.

Trampolines never get old.

Going for a ride on Grandpa's "tractor."

All bundled up and awaiting another turn on the tractor.

Playing with the rocketship.
Too bad I didn't get a photo of the passengers in the back,
Mama and Grandma forced to sit on cold steel in 30 degrees.

Charting a course on the rocketship's computer.

Enjoying his new book on Grandma's lap.

Giving moral support during Taylor's recovery.
Poor girl, tonsil-less, adenoid-less, was forced to subsist on popsicles.
She was screaming and running around an hour after this photo.

Yay for snow on the last day of our visit!
Sasha fell in love with the snowmen.

Grandma taking lessons on how to play superheroes.

The Bub with Grandma and Grandpa.

The Duggans' Grandma Deb.

Yes, you're cute, but you still can't eat the microphone.

Text "VOTE 53555" to cast your vote for the next American Idol!

Aunt Carrie finally meets the real Superman.
(I've only seen her in glasses twice and both times involved sleepless nights with Taylor:
when she was born and when  had her tonsils out.)

Hanukkah 2011

We had a small Hannukah celebration last week with special guests Aunt Margot and cousin David.  And usual guests Nana and Zayde, bearers of gifts extraordinaire.  Sasha is now an expert in the religious ceremony of the Festival of Lights-- lighting the candles, eating Hanukkah gelt, and opening presents.  What else is there to know? Oh yeah, the thrill of high-stakes driedel-spinning.

Lighting the candles with Aunt Margot.

Even more presents!

Hanging out with cousin David.

Mom, I'm Concerned About the Toilet

Frequently sighted in our bathroom lately: 

"It's totally dirty! I have to clean it."

Getting Into the Holiday Spirit

The Bub is learning all about the seasonal holidays in school.  They learned all about Hanukkah in school last week, making menorahs and sufganiyot (jelly donuts).  Over the weekend, I casually mentioned getting out our menorah so we could be ready for the holiday.  He stopped and asked, "We have a menorah?!" as if this was a great surprise.  But I guess we had spent the previous week attending to our christmas tree and making ornaments, so maybe that's why he figured we wouldn't have a menorah hidden away.  Then again, he's been telling everyone at school that he celebrates Hanukkah and Christmas, so who knows what he knows.  He asked us at the dinner table, "Have you ever had grahkiss taytoes?"  Nerdy and I looked at each other, each hoping the other one could translate.  "I'm not sure," said Nerdy diplomatically,  "What are they?"  "You know, you eat them."  Since most of the mysterious things he talks about can be traced back to school, and because it was Hanukkah week at preschool, I ventured a guess: "Potato latkes?"  "Yes!  Potato lakas!"

He's also excited by the presents under the tree, which he thinks are all for Grandma.  Hers was the first to be wrapped and put under the tree, so therefore all gifts that follow must also be hers.  I'm not about to set him straight.  Yet, anyway.  This weekend we went shopping for Taylor and Beckett and I asked Sasha to help.  He was happy to help, of course.  For Taylor he found candy just inside the door, a toy fire engine, a toy bus, a toy hot dog truck, and a stick horse that he rode around the store getting in everyone's way while joyfully yelling giddyup, horsey!  For Beckett, he found, um, nothing.  When I suggested we get a certain toy for him, Sasha agreed those would be good and then played with them that afternoon and the entire next day.  And some people say toddlers are self-centered.

When Rainbows Attack

I'm Allergic

--Does Mamu go to your school?

   --No.

--Does she go to any school?

   --No.

--Why not?

   --Because she's allergic to cows.

A Deserving Punishment

Ghost Superman and I were rounding up bad guys this weekend. (G.S. is identifiable by his Halloween shirt and red cape.)  After capturing the big bad guy (Mama-- all bad guys are guys even when they're not), we tied him up face down and put him in the bad guy cave.  Then Ghost Superman went brutal.  He forcefully grabbed a catalog flyer and stuffed it under Bad Guy's face. "Here! Read this advertisement!"  Ruthlessly, he found another one, "Read this one, too!"