mr. manners

Gus has really been quite polite lately, possibly as a result of the kids working on this at his play school. Our house is full of thank yous, you’re welcomes, and increasingly some pleases make their way in. This is in nice contrast to the whines and tantrums.

Some funny recent conversations:

Papa: “Gus, I love you so much”.
Gus: “Thank you Papa!”
Papa: “You’re welcome Gus”.
Gus: “Thank you for saying ‘you’re welcome’”.
Papa: “You’re welcome for saying you’re welcome’”.
Gus: “The end”.

Gus: “Papa, do police helicopters say please?”
Papa: “What, baby?”
Gus: “Papa, do please helicopters say please? Hahahahaha!”

Gus (from the backseat on the way to his friend Jonah’s house tonight): “It just makes me a little disappointed when Jonah says ‘no’ to me. I would like for him to say ‘yes’”.

In Spanish

from heidi

Gus has a few books that include some Spanish or offer translations. At lunch today I told Gus he could have an English muffin with cream cheese.  When I put it on his plate he said, “No, I want a circle muffin!” and I replied that this was an English muffin and it’s all we had, and he yelled, “But I want a SPANISH muffin!”

Thinking out loud

from heidi

Gus has been talking in long paragraphs lately– with lots of tangents. He often starts a sentence and it’s clear he doesn’t know yet how it’s going to end– he just wants to talk to prolong the moment. I love these dialogues because it’s really a peek into his brain about how he thinks and what word associations he has already built. Last night I went up to check on Gus because he was having a hard time falling asleep and this is the conversation we had (all done in a very sad voice/low whine):

Gus: Mama, I was calling for you because I was really, really sad. And I said, Mama! Mama! Mama! And you didn’t come and so I called, Help! Help! I need help! I need help…to find my living room.  My living room…is where my mommy and me live.  My dining room is where I dine. My bedroom is where I sleep.

Heidi: What about your kitchen?

Gus: My kitchen is where I ki…my kitchen is where I cook. Mama, I need a massage.

Heidi: Okay, buddy. I’ll rub your back.

Gus: And my neck, and my shoulders, and my legs.

Heidi: Okay. I’ll rub your back, neck, and shoulders and legs, then I’m going downstairs to move the laundry and I’ll be back in two minutes to check on you [none of which is true by the way, I always come up with vague excuses to go otherwise he will beg for me to stay-- past excuses include other invented household chores, brushing my teeth, getting my watch, turning off things like the stove or the radio, and often something having to do with Jasper the cat].

Thankful for… Gus!

On this Thanksgiving, Heidi and I are of course most thankful for our little guy. He brings such joy into our lives. His smile and his imagination are pure cuteness. He has also been saying the funniest things:

* He has really been into letters and while I am reading to him, he will sometimes ask where the word I just said is on the page. We were reading a book that is written all in lower case letters and I spelled out the word “three”. He asked where the “e” was on the page. I pointed to it and he looked up at me with a puzzled look and said “That’s a different type of e”. Our letter magnets are all upper case so I told him that it was a little e, a lower case e which is different from an upper case E. “That’s a young e,” he informed me. He has been calling all lower case e’s “young e’s” since.

* Gus is on the verge of no longer needing a nap, but we are stuck in limbo land, where if he doesn’t take a nap he goes to sleep at 7pm but if he does take a nap, he will stay awake in bed until 9:30pm or so. A week or so ago, he was fussing in his bed. I walked in and he said, “I can’t do this papa. I can’t do this”. I tried really hard to stifle my laugh. He was so earnest and distraught about the whole thing. A couple of nights ago, I entered his room while he was fussing and he told me between sobs, “Something’s just not right here, papa”. I have no idea where he picks these things up.

Rainy Days

from heidi

Gus has been sick since Halloween. One illness merging into a new illness before we can really recover.  The downside is that we haven’t been able to go to school or see any of our friends.  The upside is that we are getting very creative about our play!

Today’s rainy day activity was to make a new track for some trains that don’t fit on our standard tracks. We got the wrong gauge trains in a box of assorted trains and tracks from one of Joe’s colleagues. Gus requested we make them a track (he thinks I can make anything in my craft room!), so I got out a piece of long paper and started drawing the track according to his specific directions. In case you can’t read my scribble or decipher my poor illustrations the track goes “past the rain, around the pond, over the bridge, thru the forest, down the hill, up the hill, thru the mountain, into the snow, onto the turntable, onto a siding and out of the way, and into the shed”

Details

Halloween as Percy

from heidi

Gus wanted to be a “steam engine” for Halloween so Joe and I got crafty and turned a box into a train. Not surprisingly, we started this at 9:30 on a Thursday night. We didn’t have blue paint, so we made a green Percy. Surprisingly, Gus wanted to wear it!

Here are a few photos of us in costume. There are lots more from other friends (including the whole family as train engineers), but these will have to do until those can be collected. Here is also a cute (and short) video of Gus in partial costume (jammies and the box).

Gus and I had several parties to attend throughout the day and were well worn out by the time it started to get dark so I decided to skip the trick-or-treating for another year. Gus really doesn’t know what candy is anyways, nor would he say boo to a stranger in a costume. Besides, Joe had to go to a conference and we can’t have his first trick-or-treat without dad. We handed out the candy with some neighbors– someone has to stay home to do it!

Here are a couple of recent random photos of Gus playing with his food and play dough.  In addition to asking about time all the time, he is also asking me what letter words start with, “Mama, what does mechanic start with?” I help him sound it out and he names other words he knows that start with the letter– so smart!

it’s time

Gus has recently become really interested in (digital) clocks. He is constantly asking, “What time is it Papa?”. He is quickly learning to read the numbers left to right (which is not actually intuitive for all those Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese readers out there). He is also quickly learning numbers greater than 10. Sometimes 36 is sixty three, but it is increasingly thirty six. It is extremely exciting when the clock changes as we are watching it (which it usually does because Gus waits for the big moment every time- “What time is it going to be, Papa?”, sometimes for five consecutive minutes).

It is possible that Santa will bring him a watch this year. Or we might use said watch as a bribe to get this potty train moving! It’s time!

phone call

Gus took Heidi’s cell phone this morning and said into it, “I’m just calling to see if you want to go out to dinner tonight. OK. Bye.”

robots are scary

Papa: “Let’s put on our new robot jammies buddy!”
Gus: “OK!”
Pause.
Gus: “I’m afraid of robots”
Papa: “Well, they will probably take over the world one day”
Gus: “Yeah”

first day of [play]school

from Heidi

All summer we have been working on getting a co-op of seven parents and children for a playgroup/pre-school for Gus.  Stewart’s family generously donated their basement space and with one last push this weekend, we finally finished all the logistics of schedules, decorating and furniture, etc. Today was the first official day of “school” (aka Sprouts/playschool/pre-school/the co-op). Gus was super-excited, but also I think he didn’t totally know what it really meant. Nonetheless, it’s been a great bribe all week, “Do you want to go to school? Yes? Then we need to [insert activity here].”

School runs Tues/Thurs from 9-1. Since we rotate which two parents are working, I don’t actually have to work until October.  Though I wasn’t worried that Gus would cry when I left or anything, I was worried about how he’d manage with all the noise and chaos of seven toddlers in a room.  When I returned a few minutes early, I took a peek inside and was surprised at how quiet it was.  The majority of the kids were participating in a story.  I overheard Luke ask the kids, “What kind of sound does a cat make?” To my surprise, there was a chorus of “Meow!” Amazing. When it was time for pick-up, Gus told me about his day– playing trains, reading books, playing outside, snack-time.  So cool!  On the car ride home he said he wanted to go back to school.

Meanwhile, I was able to run several kid-free errands, including taking the time at the store to really decide what I wanted to get (versus what I can find quickly that seems somewhat acceptable), and then I had lunch with a friend.  Anyways, I’ve posted a number of super cute photos of the school (I sewed all the cute curtains, pillows, and art smocks for the school) and Gus posing for his first day.