Dropping the Ball

Well, I feel as if I have been dropping the blogging ball. Only 2 posts all month?? My excuses are many and mildly pathetic, except for the one about trying to write narratives for the children in my class in preparation of my parent-teacher conferences in 10 days. That's for real. The bigger reason for lack of blogs has been my lack of photos. Either we're not doing anything interesting worth taking photographic evidence of or we're doing so many fun things that I don't have time to grab the camera...I suspect it's more the latter, but I'm sure I could do better :)

Here are so totally random and unrelated photos from the past couple of weeks.

Finley and I went out to a late lunch last Friday at a fun diner in Newton. For most of the meal, he was turned sideways looking at the waitresses and busboys coming and going. Waving and saying hi over and over, thankfully his greetings were returned each time (what a friendly waitstaff!). After eating his hot dog, I got to eat while Finley continued to be social with all the passersby. I was hoping he would surprise me and actually eat his delicious looking french fries (which for some reason seem to repel him), but no dice. I squirted some ketchup onto his plate and in the blink of an eye, Finley picked up a fry, dipped it in the ketchup, and popped it into his mouth! This was his first encounter with ketchup, to my knowledge, but perhaps he's been partaking in the tasty condiment at Beth's. Unfortunately, Finley was only licking the ketchup off the fry after the first three or four dips, but eventually he began to eat the disguised potato product. How funny!

Another eating photo gallery, here's Finley at dinner this evening. Notice the shirtless bib look (spaghetti sauce has a way of getting on EVERYTHING so I opt for no shirt) and the nice red plate that Dan surely ate off of as a child since we inherited a whole box full of them from his folks.

At some point during every meal, Finley wants to play "Open and Closed." Dan obliged him tonight as I tried to get some picts.

Despite all the fun and laughter, he actually ate most of his food and didn't seem to notice that the plate could have been lifted and flipped over, phew!

Finally, some cute ones Dan snapped before bed earlier in the week.

Finley's bookworming nature has certainly continued and it's hard not to indulge him before bed each night with one more book and then another and maybe just one last one. As his vocabulary expands and his memory grows immensely, it's fun to read and ask him to find things on the pages. However, at some point we have to put all the books on the shelf and read The Going to Bed Book. Finley loves this book, but he knows it means bedtime and sometimes he'll squirm out of our grasps and pull another book of the shelf and request it be read. As if we won't put him in the crib unless we finish The Going to Bed Book...sorry buddy, bedtime is bedtime. But we like your literacy enthusiasm!

Wordsmith

Well, before this list gets too long, I thought I should make a note of the words that Finley has said and can say. Since Dan and I have been a tough audience in terms of naming an official "first word" I suspect we missed which one was the truly the first, but perhaps our expectations were a bit high :) From what I can tell, most kids' first words are simply those that they echo as opposed to ones that they spontaneously utter all on their own. Once they have repeated it enough and understand the meaning/use, then they might say it without hearing it from someone else first. Finley is still at the echo stage (with a couple exceptions), but it seems easier for him to repeat several of the words we say to him these days. As we got him ready for bed tonight, I was saying a few things so Dan could hear Finley repeat them and the little gem actually cooperated! Dan was blown away! He was away over the weekend and doesn't always get a ton of time with Finley before bed, so it was great to show off some of his new vocabulary.

So here's the list (to the best of my memory) of words that he can repeat or has been able to at some point in the past few weeks. It's funny that some of the words are words we say to him ALL the time and others were sort of random in-the-moment words that he just grabbed onto the first time.

-apple

-help (hup)

-up

-uh-oh

-cheese (dairy product or camera related)

-wow/whoa (sometimes he says these on his own if he falls or spills something)

-da-dee and da-da (so much easier to say that ma-mee or ma-ma, apparently)

-ball (ba)

-shoes (soos)

-Arty (his small penguin)

-bubble (last night in the tub it was "bu-bu" and tonight before bed it sounded more like "bu-bl", progress!)

-mango (newest one inspired by tonight's dessert after dinner, kinda sounds like man-o)

And the last two words are the ones that he says on his own (often) when the occasion calls for them:

-hi (whenever he sees anyone on the sidewalk, when I open the car door to get him out, when he sees a person in a book and it's usually accompanied by a hand squeezing wave)

-more (sounds like "mo" and comes with the sign language sign and means I NEED/WANT FOOD!)

His extensive babbling continues and at times it seems as if he's really having a conversation with us or himself. I think it's great because we've managed to convince him that we understand what he's saying or asking in order to continue the conversation :) He's also added high pitched screaming (excitement related, thankfully), self-imposed bouts of laughter, and the occasional whisper to his sound toolbox. So fun to have such a vocal member of the household emerging!

Hopefully there will be some video evidence of all this chit-chatting soon, but I can't promise anything!

His Father's Son

After school and some errands, Finley and I arrived home and while I was excited to go inside and sit down for a while, my partner in crime had other plans. Each time I put Finley in or get him out of the car, he lusts after the small snow shovel we have hanging in the garage. As he reached for it today, I gave in and took it down off its hook. But then he wanted a frisbee we had up there, too. Soon he was exiting the garage with both in hand and I smiled thinking that Finley is playing with the two things that his dad spends his free time with: a snow shovel in the winter and a frisbee the other 3 seasons of the year.

While it was funny just watching him scoot around with the shovel, trying his best not to actually move any of the April snow we got overnight, the funnier part was that he was having an ongoing conversation without any input from me. Babbling, shrieking, laughing, etc. all as he looked around and tried maneuvering the shovel from one place to another.

After about 5 minutes of snapping photos and playing defense so that Finley wouldn't tumble down our sloping driveway, I realized I should try and capture this on video. Thank you camera for your built in HD video option! Couldn't get it to upload on blogger, but youtube was being more cooperative. Less than 2 minutes and totally worth your time, turn up the volume!

I thought he was tiring a bit, so I put the camera away and expected to have to pick him up (and the shovel and the frisbee) and carry them all into the garage, but Finley had other plans. He trotted towards the garage and requested a bigger shovel.

I obliged, but then he changed his mind and requested the green one.

At least he used it productively.

But in no time, he was back in there again wanting some other manly landscaping equipment at which point I decided it was time to go in the house.

I'm hoping he'll really be into raking this fall :)

What's Cookin', Good Lookin'?

Sunday morning was a busy one for the Forseter trio. After breakfast, Finley and I headed off to the supermarket while Dan drove just about an hour south to the town of Norfolk, MA. Why, you ask? To pick up a very special craigslist purchase that I lined up for Finley. We got home and unpacked the groceries and soon enough, Dan called to say he was almost home and we should meet him in the garage. We raced down and opened the trunk, Finley nearly jumped out of my arms!

If you couldn't tell, inside our trunk was a beautiful fully equipped kitchen! Unfortunately for Finley, it was nearly nap time so we trudged back upstairs for a snooze. While Finley slept, we carried the kitchen around back and through the back door into the playroom. A perfect fit!

This thing is awesome! There's a sink, fridge, microwave, stovetop, dishwasher, oven, phone, cabinet, and even a working ice cube dispenser! It's a Little Tikes Country Kitchen that is no longer made and apparently, hard to find in good condition. Hooray for my craigslist scavenger hunt!

While I wanted Finley to have a nice, long nap--I was eager for him to see this new addition to his playroom. After two hours or so, he was up and ready for his surprise. We carried him into the playroom, still a bit groggy, for the big reveal and it was an instant hit. He recognized what was in front of him right away and got down to business immediately.

Can you see the smile on his face as he rushes towards it in the photo above?

He has to get up on his tippy-toes to put things into the microwave, it's adorable!

I loaded up the fridge with some nice wooden foods I'd purchased a month ago or so (in hopes of a kitchen coming to us) and Finley had fun exploring everything.

And yes, there's a working ice cube dispenser! How funny! After watching me a couple of times, he learned how to put the cubes in and then close to the door and slide the lever over so the cubes land in the cup.

I see many hours of fun in the months and years to come with this new piece of toddler equipment.

We've been playing with kitchen stuff for a while (our nice pots and lids, our bamboo spoons, our measuring cups, etc.) and I'm hoping he'll find it more fun to play with things in his kitchen now. He tried to put one of our big, heavy skillets onto his stovetop without much success (after loudly dragging it across our tiled kitchen floor), but I suspect he'll try again soon.

One of the neat things is that he's making sound effects while he works in his kitchen just as I have modeled for him over the past couple of months. When he is pouring from his tea kettle or coffee pot into a cup, he makes a "wsh"ing sound. So cute! When he shakes his salt shaker, he'll sometimes go "sh sh sh" as he sprinkles it into the pot or pan that he's using. All the things that I've been doing while we've been pretend cooking have not gone unnoticed I guess. I just love it! As he presses the non-electronic keypad on the microwave I've been making beeping noises and tonight after dinner, he was pressing the sticker keys and looking at me to make the beeps so I suspect he will be making his own sounds soon. After he "makes" some soup or eggs, he'll offer you a bite by putting the spoon near your mouth. But note: he needs his spatula for the eggs and a spoon if it's soup. If you take a pretend taste and say "mmm" or "yummy," Finley gets a big smile. He'll also taste it himself and then get back to cooking. I have a feeling that pretend play might become a favorite of mine to sit back and watch!

Our little top chef begins and ends his day playing in his kitchen now and it's nice to have a new go-to activity around here :) My next task is to get a video of all of this!

Our Little Bookworm

From very early on, we were reading to Finley. Way before he even knew what was going on, we read to him in his rocking chair, in the car, before bed, and even in the bathtub. Now that he does know what's going on (and then some), he LOVES books. He loves scanning the shelves for the one he has in mind. He loves handing it to you and then backing up to land in your lap (one of our favorite things he does these days) so you can read together.

Sometimes, he'll sit down with you to read only to pop up again instantly to go grab Agent P (giant penguin), Arty (small penguin) or his loveys (if we're in his bedroom). Nothing cuter than that!

He's great at turning the pages (sometimes prematurely if there's a page he's excited to get to) and enjoying pointing at different things on the pages so we can tell him what it is. Occasionally he'll reciprocate and if we ask where something is on the page, he'll point it out. He likes open-the-flap type books and books with buttons as much as plain old books with pages. If he wants you to read him a book, there's no way to get out of it--he'll just keep handing it to you until you give in and provide a lap to sit in.

A new twist to his reading repertoire is requesting to be helped into a chair (or onto the couch) and handed a book of his choice so he can read to himself!

His favorite books these days:

Go, Dogs. Go!

The Building Site (which I hide under the couch when I need a break for a few days)

First 100 Machines (a real page turner as you can imagine!)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I Am a Train (possibly his top choice)

Bunny on the Beach

Goodnight Moon

The Word Book (dare I say it's short on plot, but good for pointing)

Hop on Pop

Goodnight Babies

I love that he's taken to loving books so much and hope it will continue as he grows!

Bird-Boy

At our playground up the street last week, Finley was entertained with the sand, structure, and his fellow tots. However, the most attractive feature in his eyes, was the grassy knoll where he could chase robins. He spotted one on the way back to the stroller and just took off after it. Similarly, on Friday, after visiting Dan at work, we headed off to the Harvard Square playground but didn't quite make it due to a robin pit stop. Finley nearly jumped out of the stroller when he saw a gathering of birds. I wish I could have gotten photos of him coming towards the camera, but I had to hang back as to not frighten the specimens away from our future ornithologist. He was certainly a man on a mission!

Amazing how close he could get! But eventually, each robin he would close in on would take off into the trees.

So after a long stare up towards the sky, he would scan the grass for another one to chase and he'd be off once again.

He was laughing while he ran and stopping every so often to make sure I was following him, and I kid you not--this was about a half hour endeavor. Finley was really in his element and while it was quite chilly out, this bird adventure made it feel like spring. I know both of his grandfathers would be proud of his new found interest in birds. When he'd had his fill, he came running back with arms up ready to go.

With the remaining twenty minutes before heading back to meet Dan, we finally got to the playground. Finley made his way into the sand and found plenty of tools to keep him happy.

This playground is so much fun, but we had to scoot. Once the weather gets a tinge warmer, we'll go back. It sure seemed odd to be digging in the sand with fuzzy hats and heavy coats on!