Away we go

E and I had a nice visit to New England to visit family, including E's new baby cousin! In addition to our first time meeting the beautiful baby girl, E had a few other "firsts".

First time on a Sit and Spin

First time playing in the sand at the beach (second trip to the beach)

First ice cream in a cone

First time under a sprinkler

EFG

So I try not to brag too much about how amazing my kid is but here is some shameless gushing about my little prodigy.

E knows pretty much the whole alphabet by sight; capital and lower case. He calls it the EFG's.

While waiting at the airport, E was doodling happily when he made a short vertical line and said "I". Looked like an "I" to me too.

I came downstairs to find E hold an "M" (magnetic letter). He was turning it over and over saying "M", "W", "M", "W", ...

E is getting pretty good at spelling and recognizing his name.

He knows all the 8 major colors (see any box of 8 crayons), except orange.

Having spent some time with two other cats, E now knows that cats have names besides "MAO" (in fact he even says "mee-oww" now). Our cat is now called "Did-doo" (Diddle, our nickname for him) or "naughty" (our description of him).

He has pretty good spatial reasoning and problem solving abilities; he pulled a box over to something he couldn't reach so that he could use the box as a stool.

He can sort shapes like no kid I ever seen before. On his first day with the Tupperware shape sorter (the one with a red half and a blue half), he could put all 10 shapes into the correct holes in rapid succession, save for his pause for clapping after each one. The really remarkable thing is that he seemed to know which side to search (red or blue) depending on which shape he picked up.

And the best achievement of all? E now picks up cat hair/fuzz/dirt and instead of eating it, he puts it in the TRASH CAN! (sometimes)

Random toddlerisms

I think that for a "modern" kid, E's ratio of toys with batteries to toys without batteries is lower than average but since he has SO many toys there is still a great number of battery powered noise makers in the bunch. Thus, E knows about batteries.

After lunch today, E hopped down and ran over to his music player and pressed the play button. Nothing happened.

He turned his earnest little face to me and said plaintively "batteries?".

I showed him how to turn the power on. Again. Music!

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E and I went to Toys R Us today looking to get him some sandals. He was having a great time running amok and playing with the shoe sizer when I gave up looking for shoes and told him we were going. He went directly into tantrum mode. I told him, of all the stores in the area, this one was the one most accustomed to temper tantrums and thus his efforts would go unnoticed. He looked at me thoughtfully and smiled his way out of the store.

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For nearly 21 months, E's first activity of the morning was a good long snuggle, sometimes with milk, sometimes while reading books, but always, always, on someone's lap in our yellow rocking chair (if we were at home).

These times, they are a-changing.

It started in NH. E didn't want to sit on someone's lap anymore; he'd sit beside someone to have his morning milk. Then he needed his own cushion on the couch.

Now that we're home, he needs the whole yellow chair to himself while he downs his first cup of milk. Once he's ready, I can sit with him to read but any attempt to do more than hand him his cup before he's ready is met with howls of protest. My heart would be totally broken except this means I get to have a cup of coffee without worrying about scalding the child.

Full speed ahead

It looks like we've come through the latest round of immunity building challenges. E is much better; eating, sleeping, and playing like his normal self. Actually, his appetite is actually above and beyond the normal: this morning he knocked down 1.5 pancakes, a good handful of berries and a small bowl of cereal. He came back an hour later and polished off 2 eggs. He's either getting ready for a growth spurt or making up for lost calories last week.

Once the feeding frenzy subsided, E and I headed out for some fun. It was like the good old days when he was super small and not yet in school; E and me hanging out at the local train tables and the like. We spent some time at the library. After playing with the trains for awhile, E headed to the space section. This kid either got really lucky in finding it or has an unbelievable memory/sense of direction because I was following him, not in any way directing him. After the library, we headed to a nearby park until it was time to go meet the meat man. We buy locally raised meat and pick it up from the farmer once a month.

E sat in his carseat, very content from all the playing and having just downed a cup of juice UNTIL I got back in the car and started to leave the parking lot. "Tain, tain, tain!" (train) he wailed, tears and all. The pick up location happens to be in the far corner of the parking lot of a small mall. This mall has a store with 2 train tables. Somehow, E knew where we were. From his backseat carseat, he could tell that the rather nondescript 1 floor beige building about 200 ft. away was the place with the trains.

Many people have commented that E is likely to have strong math and science skills given the Mav's and my fields. I would usually say that Murphy's law or karma or something along those lines meant E was probably going to be an artist (not that there's anything wrong with that). Actually, I now highly doubt he's got a future in the arts; at least the visual ones.

It's not that he's bad at art; I think his scribbles and projects from school are perfect and beautiful and it's fun to watch his abilities evolve. The thing is, E likes art for learning rather than expression. Oh, and for asserting his newly discovered tyrannical side.

E loves to "write". He likes to sit in his highchair with all 8 crayons and a piece of paper. He now will draw some lines and some loops, sometimes he'll use different colors. Mostly, though, he wants someone else to draw for him.

"mao" mean "draw a cat".

"MAO". "Mommy, MAO". "MOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMY, MAO, MAO, MAO". This means, "get over here right now and draw a cat". One in every color.

He likes to have a rainbow of cats, bunnies, shuttles. Letters. Words.

He also likes to eat the green crayon. Yes, always the green one.

Perhaps his future is in the performing arts.

And the beat goes on

I had the false impression, over these many, many years that if I ever successfully defended my dissertation the angels would sing, I would received enlightenment, and I would breath deeply and freely at least for a week or so.

With that milestone behind me, I can say that I smile a bit more but as for enlightenment and relaxation? Ha!

The boy is ill again. It was a fun trip the grocery store today; ask me about it in a few years, maybe then it will seem funny.

The workload has not diminished much. I'm making adjustments to my dissertation. I can't believe I care this much about the use of italic font or using the word "with" instead of "for". I think I'm trying to start a new job in just a few weeks. I'm not sure how that happened (or if it actually will). I'm lucky, in this economy, that there are some options on the table but I can't seem to quiet the beat for even a minute.

When he's not sick, E stays rather busy also. He runs, he plays, he talks on the phone, he read books. He reads books about being an astronaut. He reads books about being an astronaut while wearing bunny ears.

Happy Easter!

E met the Easter Bunny for the first time on Friday and it was a big success. E had no intention of standing in line; he wanted to march right up to the Easter Bunny as soon as he saw him. Alas, there was a sizable line.

While the Mav waited in line, E and I walked around admiring the Bunny and his entourage. We discussed what he would tell the Easter Bunny and made a plan.

When it was his turn, E nearly ran over to the very large bunny and I hoisted him up. E then very deliberately showed the Easter Bunny the train on his sweater. He pulled his sweater right up to the Easter Bunny's eyes and told him "train". He was a (little) man with a mission.

That's about it for the Easter festivities here. E was sick today; he spent the day in my lap asleep. We didn't make it to the egg hunt. The Easter Bunny is coming tonight but I'm not sure how impressed E will be, given his current state. After that, it's back to the grind. The Mav is going full speed ahead toward his big day next month. I have an interview in Chicago on Monday. E has books to read, cats to terrorize, and toys to throw.

Anticipation!

Cheese!

Okay, now what?