Names: Our Precious Beastie, also known as... He

Seems to me I remember smiling for this one at the Legislature pool, not knowing it would be focused on my bikini- top only in an attempt to get the perfect Nolan close-up....

Nolan and Oma a few visits/months ago....Goodnight Moon is a major favorite, as are Oma and Opa (he mentions you guys every day, by the way.....)


Nolan now knows his own name. He calls himself Nonan, usually, as in "Nooooo-nan, where are you? Hiding???" when he's "hiding"- usually in plain view- indicating he wants us to look for him. Then he giggles and giggles when I look in the kitchen cupboard, behind the door etc.

Most of his life, he's had many names, including Wigglebum poopster, babyman, sweetiebug, lovebug, honeybear.....but the constant in our house has been, well, just "He". Capitalized like an honorific. Is He asleep? Did He nap? Did you take Him to the P-A-R-K??? At some level, He who needs no other name is quite appropriate, given how He has changed us from a career-duty driven household to a house centred around His needs and wants.

Today on the way home from IKEA, as a car distraction I gave him a box Mike had received from a client for Nolan- a small stuffed Gorilla and a book about Gorilla going to bed. Very cute. Nolan opened it, said...."Monkey!!!" spontaneously, which was pretty impressive, and then named and multiply enumerated Monkey's eyes, nose, mouth, toes, and wrists. Then we sang "Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed...." for about 3 km, and then Nolan looked at the book and talked and babbled about "Bed, nigh-night...", then counted "one, two three...six.. nine.... ten, one two three" for a while. He also knows the colors : wed, 'llow, blue, gween, poople, pik, oran. He's really on that toddler upswing of knowledge and attempted independence. Yikes.

Anecdote: Mike was outside with Nolan talking to a neighbour who was leaving after coming over for a meal. I was up here, in the office. Nolan came in and Mike thought I was downstairs, so assumed I'd be watching him. I heard a stealthy little sound, and went downstairs, wondering why I couldn't hear Mike. Nolan had climbed onto the table- amongst the dishes- with his shoes on, and was sitting down, pouring the leftover wine into a wineglass and holding a sharp knife we had used to cut pie, having evidently helped himself to another piece in the moments it took me to get downstairs. Dangerous objects, booze, and treats- He couldn't have been happier.

GTG. As our little He would say, "Bye bye!!! Sheee you later!! Byeeee!!!! (Blowing kisses if he REALLY likes you)

Update...sentences, slides, and stubbornness

Gone for a while again, was on call so no time for such frivolous activity as updating the blog.

However, Nolan's world has been just fine: days of parks and sunshine with Evadnie, and "helping" around the house, playing with Mommy and Daddy and cooking (he loves to get involved with supper- "schtirrr!"- loves to stir pots), eating noodles, cheese, potatoes, meat, and fruit (no, vegetables are not such a favorite- and in fact, vegtables may contaminate other foods that they touch).....

Utterances:
"THAT one!"- spying food, bottle, crayon or other object of desire.
"Boo Cue" - watch Blues Clues
"Shofel and pail" - characters on Boo Cue
"I'll do it" -yes he really says this

Anecdotes:
On the way back from the park last night we picked out a really nice rock (we pick out one rock per trip, and Nolan and I have similar tastes in rocks so we often confer about the appropriate choice). Rock in hand we strolled down the street with Daddy, stopping to hop up and down on a manhole cover. Tried to put rock down hole in top of the cover, didn't fit. It did fit in the storm drain though- Woops! Rock fell down. Expectant watching for rock to reappear, but nope...upset, questioning the loss of the nice blue rock, he looks wildy at me :"Rock??!!!" "It's all gone honey. It's gone, ummm, taking a bath." "Rock?? Rock? Get it!!" Pushing me towards the drain, as if I should somehow leap down the hole and get the rock. Parents apparently can do ANYTHING if they choose to....when I fail to obtain the rock, he falls about, wailing, a threatened total meltdown. " I know where it is!!" I say, remembering the next house down has gravelled bed along the side of the house...running ahead, I find a similar blue rock after concentrated searching. "There it is!"
And all is well in toddler land again.

He can climb ladders in the big kid playground right by our house, and scramble up to the slide, and will go down again and again. Lately, he has developed a weird fondness for hanging from monkey bars, handholds and horizontal tree branches. You just hook his hands over the bar and he...hangs. Until his babyhands give out, and then you catch him. He laughs and laughs. Very weird, to see your child hanging from a tree like a cute babyfruit of some kind.

S'all for now, I'm at work.