Ready for Spring

Eddie and I are officially ready for Spring. These last few days of warmth have been fabulous. We've taken trips to the park. Eddie loves to run down the hill and find things to throw down the storm drains. Oh, and he occasionally goes down the slide. It's also nice that when the weather is nice, all the neighbors come out and play on the lawn in front of our house. So Eddie got to play with the neighbor kids yesterday and draw with sidewalk chalk.

Today I bought him some summer-time shoes and some sunglasses (because he is now obsessed with sunglasses, which he calls "gas"). Here he is, decked out:

Car Trip Conversations

I think Eddie might be one of those kids who doesn't ever want to stop talking. Sometimes it is really cute, but sometimes it can get a little... not cute. Just so you all know what I deal with every day, here is a sampling of our car conversation today on the way home from work:

Eddie: [screaming] DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN!
Me: You can't get down until we get home.
Eddie: [crying] JUICE! JUICE!
Me: We don't have any juice. You can have water if you want.
Eddie: [throws water cup] JUICE!
Me: [attempting distraction] What do you want to have for lunch?
Eddie: PIZZA!
Me: Okay, we'll make pizza when we get home.
Eddie: [getting angry] PIZZA! PIZZA! PIZZA! PIZZA!
Me: [ignoring the screaming rage from the backseat]
Eddie: TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE CHURCH TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE!
Me: We'll see one. Just wait a minute.
Eddie: [sees a church] There it is!
Me: Yep.
Eddie: Yep.
[momentary silence]
Eddie: TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE!
Me: We'll see another one. You just have to wait a minute.
Eddie: [rage building] TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE!
Me: [turning up the music]
Eddie: [screaming over the music] TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE! [sees the temple] There it is! Two temples!
Me: Yep.
Eddie: Yep.

As you can see, rides in the car are quite the treat these days. Thank goodness for portable DVD players and Finding Nemo or Dave might have driven us off a cliff on our recent trip to Cedar City.

Eddie's Favorite Flicks

Recently, Eddie has started to actually watch TV and movies. He will actually sit in his little chair with a bowl of goldfish crackers and watch TV for a solid 10 minutes at a time. He usually gets distracted for a while, but will come back to his seat occasionally to watch some more.

Like most kids, he likes to watch the same things over and over. Since I am also subjected to these shows, I generally disregard his opinion and choose something else to add a little variety to our lives. Still, every time we ask him what he wants to watch, his answer will invariably be one of these:

Batman

I don't think he has a favorite Batman show, and luckily we have a wide variety of Batman movies for him to watch. However, since I feel the need to preserve his innocence, he generally only gets to watch Batman: The Animated Series or Batman The Movie (starring Adam West). He loves to sing along to the Batman theme song.

Finding Nemo

I am not sure why Eddie loves Nemo more than any of the other Pixar movies. It sure wouldn't be my first choice. But, he loves it. Throughout the whole movie, he will say "Nemo, Nemo" if Nemo or Marlin (who looks just like Nemo) are not on screen. I try not to let him watch it more than once a week at the most because I get really tired of it.

Nightmare Before Christmas

Thanks to the Nightmare Before Christmas story book we got from the library a few months ago, Eddie has started to like the movie, too. He loves Santa and he loves Jack Skellington, so this movie is a favorite. Of course, Dave and I don't mind because we like it, too. Often when I open up our movie cabinet to find something besides Nemo to watch, Eddie will pull out "Jack" instead. His favorite part is when Jack falls into Christmas Town. He even recognizes the songs when we listen to them on the computer or in the car.

Curious George

This is the most recent addition to the list. For Christmas, Eddie received a DVD with episodes of the Curious George cartoon. We tried watching it once just after Christmas and Ed was not interested. I pulled the DVD out again, looking for something that wasn't a feature-length movie, and he loved it. Of course, we ended up watching enough of it to equal a feature-length movie because Eddie kept demanding more "monkey!"

There are a few other movies that Eddie pulls out of the cabinet, but we have not let him watch them yet. They are: Mission Impossible (he likes that "boy" on the cover), Master and Commander (apparently Russell Crowe looks like Daddy), and The Italian Job (apparently Charlize Theron looks like Momma -- hey, I'm not complaining).

Sarah Sue

Eddie's cousin Sarah is one of his favorite people. Lucky for him, he is one of her favorite people, too. They get to play every day while I am working. If we get to Sarah's house and she is nowhere to be found (as in, she hasn't woken up yet), Eddie often becomes frantic, yelling, "SARAH SUE!"

On Monday, Eddie got a special treat - Sarah came to our house! I didn't tell him she was coming and he was acting ready for his nap, but then Sarah Sue showed up and he was so happy, he ran around in circles and yelled a lot. Of course, after an hour or so, the novelty wore off and they fought over every toy.

But, they had fun playing on our bean bag.

It's Difficult to Be So Loved

Eddie is very attached to both me and Dave lately. I have several theories about this phenomenon:

1. Traumatized by his recent bout of the stomach flu, Eddie has realized how entirely dependent he is on us for survival.

2. Eddie is 21 months old and is experiencing a phase of separation anxiety.

3. Eddie has noticed how ridiculously awesome we both are and doesn't want to spend one waking moment away from either of us.

I tend to lean towards #3. Unfortunately, the results of this attachment have begun to wear on Dave and I. During the day, Eddie does pretty well without his daddy. He frequently points toward the back door and says, "Daddy? Work." And he is satisfied. But once Dave gets home, Eddie cannot allow him to escape again. I have several theories about this phenomenon:

1. Tired after a long day without napping (despite his mother's best efforts), Eddie seeks comfort in the arms of his Daddy... and demands that his Mommy be present at all times as well.

2. Tired after a long day of interacting with only Mommy, Eddie seeks sanity in the arms of his Daddy... and insists that his Mommy be present at all times as well.

3. Eddie has realized that his monopoly on our attention will eventually come to an end and has decided to milk this for all it's worth.

I tend to lean towards #3. Unfortunately, this can create some uncomfortable situations for the rest of us. It is getting to the point where we can't even take 2 minutes to use the bathroom without hearing Eddie's wails in the hallway. He also will not allow us to split up in public places, such as the grocery store. If we do, he will inevitably obsess, "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" or "Momma? Momma? Momma?" until we are reunited.

And here is a random picture of Eddie in a "hat," alone, ironically enough. If you're wondering, no, I don't ever wash his face.

More Words

We are frequently surprised at the kinds of words we can get Eddie to say - not to mention the words that he picks up on his own. We are working on another video of his words, but for now, I thought a list of some of our new favorites would be nice.

Goodness

I've been trying to pay attention to myself to see if I say this a lot. Frankly, I don't know if I do. So, we're not sure where he picked this one up, but it makes us smile every time he says it.

Lay Down

I always ask Eddie to lay down on his changing pad for diaper changes. Now he has started saying it, too. Sometimes when he's tired, he will say "lay down" and then lay down in the middle of the floor. Other times when he is ready to get changed for bed, he will say "lay down" and then lay on his changing pad and wait for me.

Let Go

Eddie seems to use this word whenever he is frustrated about not being able to get something. He will use it correctly, when someone is trying to take something from him. And he will also use it when he can't reach something or when something won't come apart. Yesterday, while I was putting together our lasagna, Eddie was sitting on one of our barstools. I wasn't paying much attention to him, but noticed that he kept saying, "let go! let go!" I started trying to figure out what he wanted, when I realized that he was telling the chair to let him go. He had stuck his chubby little elbow between the slats and it got stuck. We had to get out the lotion and grease him up to get him loose.

Raccoon

Thanks to the friendly-looking animals in the fabric book Eddie got from my Grandma, he has learned what a raccoon is. He doesn't really care about anything else in the book at the moment - just the raccoon.

Obsessed

Dave taught Eddie to say "obsessed" because he wouldn't stop saying "noon, noon" (which is how he says "noodle"). We told him he was obsessed with noodles and taught him how to say it. It is pretty funny, but I'm not sure he could use it in context.

Stealth Mode

Eddie has always been a little on the shy side. We never know which way it will go -- he will either randomly greet strangers with a "HI!" or a "POO!" or he will go into what we have dubbed "Stealth Mode."

When he was younger and strangers would talk to him, he would often burst into tears and make me hold him. Then one day, the three of us were at the fabric store. I was waiting in line to check out and Dave was following Eddie around the store. That's when he encountered "Overly Friendly Old Man." This old man didn't just talk to Eddie. He stooped down in front of him, talked to him, and even touched him. I would have intervened, but we knew that within moments, the screaming would start. We were surprised when Eddie didn't start crying or run to one of us to be held. Instead, Eddie went into Stealth Mode.

When Eddie goes into Stealth Mode, he holds perfectly still. He gets a very serious look on his face, as if he's concentrating on being invisible. He doesn't move or talk, but will just stand or sit there, head turned slightly to one side, staring at nothing. It cracks me up because he does this quite often now. I often find myself explaining to friendly strangers why he is suddenly silently frozen. Then he'll wait until we're walking away before shouting something like, "KNEE!"

Dramatization

Sick!

Yup... Eddie is sick again. This time, it's the stomach flu. Since he isn't keeping anything down, the doctor said that I need to give him sips of fluid every 15 minutes to help keep him hydrated. The problem is that Eddie is not a sipper. And since he is dehydrated, he wants to drink a lot. When I give him his cup, he starts chugging, so I have to make him stop. This makes him very angry and he cries until I give the cup back. He was so upset about his cup that he wouldn't let me take it away when he went down for his nap.

Kodak Moments

Eddie has been photographed a lot in his short life. It didn't take him very long to figure out how to smile for the camera. However, things have been different ever since Kristen turned the viewfinder around so he could see himself in it (as featured in the "Eddie Loves..." video).

Now, as soon as we pull the camera out, he immediately reaches for it, saying "Eddie, Eddie!" over and over. He wants to see himself, and he can't be bothered with staying put and smiling. After asking in vain for even the slightest grin, he usually ends up on one of our laps watching and pointing while we scan through all the images on the camera.

We can still capture a choice moment if we are quick. First, we have to be discreet about getting the camera out. Then, we can usually get one or two shots off before he demands to see Eddie. Here are a few recent favorites:

Getting himself wedged between the mattress and footboard of our bed.

Making a used car lot out of my chest.

Eloquent Ed

Eddie continues to learn new words every day. Some of the things he says crack us up. Some of the other things he says make us a little embarrassed. Here are a few of his newest words:

Edward


Thanks to one of Eddie's Christmas presents, the LeapFrog My Pal Scout, Eddie can now say his real name. The puppy can connect to the computer and you can upload songs and other things like the kid's name, favorite food, favorite color, and favorite animal. Then it will say "Hello Edward" when you turn it on and sings songs with his name in it. It is a little awkward sounding, but Eddie doesn't mind. And I love it when he said, "Ewrd."

Yep

For the longest time, Eddie's only answer to questions was "no." Now that he says "yep," I am never sure if I should believe him. I will say, "Eddie, are you stinky?" and he'll say "yep." Sometimes it's true and sometimes it isn't.

All Right

I must say this a lot more than I realize because Eddie says it all the time now, too. It is pretty cute, though, so I guess it's okay.

Quack

This one is also thanks to My Pal Scout. The problem with the word "quack" is that it sounds too much like, "crock pot," except that it is one syllable. Eddie replaces the "qu" with an "f" and the "a" with an "o," so it sounds pretty bad. We're still working on that.



Truck

Another dirty sounding word... Eddie is finally starting to distinguish between cars, vans, buses, and trucks. After I taught him this word, I regretted it and wish he would go back to calling them cars. It sounds much nicer.

Some

Eddie says "some?" whenever he wants some of something. When he was on his latest round of antibiotics, I would be getting it out for him and filling the syringe and he would say, "some?" Apparently he liked it because he always wanted some.

Like

I realized one day while we were all riding in the car that I use the word "like" a lot in the middle of my sentences. When I mentioned this to Dave, we started making fun of me and Eddie chimed in with a "so, um, like," from the back seat. He did this the whole way home and it cracked us up. Apparently I need to watch what I say so he doesn't grow up to be a valley girl.