Jokes and Serious Fun

Elias has started telling jokes. They're very much insider jokes, consisting of a question then affirmation of something blatantly untrue. Now that I think of it, that's very much akin to some of my jokes ("How much was the offer? But Aova is worth a kaJILLion dollars!") His first was:

• Elias: "I go outside?" while one of us was still in PJ's--obviously NOT going to happen.
• Me: "Nooo, you're not going outside now." Smiling, but with you-should-know-better tone.
• Elias: "I go outside!" followed by lots of laughter.
  

He still uses that one to good effect. Sometimes the initial question is serious, and sometimes it's just a lead-in to his punchline. Last week he came up with another when he was eating an apple at Ski Hi orchard with Nanna and I:

• Elias, holding up his apple: "Applesauce?"
• Me: "Nooo, that's not applesauce; it's an apple!" (He knows very well the difference.)
• Elias: "Applesauce!" HaHaHaaHaHaaHa!
  
  

Now he'll just come up to you randomly with that spark in his eye and either ask or yell "applesauce" and crack up laughing. I used this to good effect at the photographers' last week, when I just said "applesauce!" whenever I wanted him to laugh. Here's one of the resulting photos.

Although now he is quite expressive and even giggly, Elias seemed rather stoic until he was about a year and a half old. Especially as an infant, he was very reserved, giving the impression that he was just observing everything, to be thoroughly processed and mulled over, and brought to bear at some appropriate time in the future. This came through again last week at the zoo, when for the first time we rode the train. He loves trains, and was so excited, the waiting made worse by the fact that we didn't quite make it on the first train ride, so had to wait the entire cycle first in line for the next round. He fluctuated between eager pointing and frustrated whining. However, once we got on it his face went blank, eyes wide and mouth drooped open, despite any encouragement from the conductor or us. It was like he was so intent on taking it all in, there was no energy to reflect back out--a little black hole of experiential pleasure. Someone else would probably misjudge that he was bored or clueless, but I knew it was just the opposite--Oh, how he loved that train. Right after that he rode the carousel, and had some of that look too, but not like the train. I'll have to make it a point of riding that each time we get the chance.

Happy New Year

Happy Ethiopian New Year!

11Sep2009 over here is actually 01Meskerem2002 in Ethiopia. It sorta "sneaked" up on me but I did make some doro wat (chicken stew) and lentils last night using some of the spice I brought back from Ethiopia. I did not try serving it with the (northern) staple of injera (pancakes)--having learned from my past failures--but rotini noodles stood in just fine. Elias thought it OK, but much prefers black olives and green beans.

Tonight we had the pleasure of attending the Madison Ethiopian community's celebration. True to form, it featured lots and lots of very tasty, very traditional ET food (along with American additions like spaghetti, popsicles, and cake) and music. Many people wore traditional dress. Like always, I was struck by their hospitality and love of children. I met several new people in the process of adopting. We danced at the end. I even love how they dance: Not terribly active overall but with a lot of shoulder work. Elias not only did his traditional ET dancing, but, encouraged by some new friends, added a lot of arm waving and stretches of the "hokey-pokey."


Here's a picture early on, of Elias absconding with someone's stroller, about to run into Almaz, a wonderful, grandmotherly Ethiopian whom we see at each event. Here's also a link to a slideshow someone posted of the event: http://bluenileimages.com/images/eslide/index.html

It was at a beautiful park I hadn't been to before, right on the lake. It's right across the street from the big Middleton park we normally go to, so I assumed it was that one. After finding a place to park and trekking over to the shelter, already 1/2 hr late, I found it was reserved for a Pagan festival. Urgh: crowds of tattooed, unkempt, unfriendly, scary-looking people sitting cross-legged in weird T-shirts, hawking incense and chanting "balance to you!" I asked a very large bearded man with a "STAFF" shirt and a gadget belt like Batman if he knew anything about an Ethiopian New Years party and he begrudgedly told me only that they had the place til 10pm. Then finally I spotted two Ethiopian women and a girl arrive who looked just as confused as I, so we stuck together. One of them had a cell phone and called around, speaking in Amharic, until finding someone who knew where it really was. We went back to our cars, and I followed them to the right celebration. What a contrast. The pagan "celebrants" just seemed lost, insecure and lonely; the Ethiopian celebration across the street was joyous, welcoming, natural, unified, confident, safe, and fun.

Ahead of me again

How wonderful to be continually, delightfully surprised by my son's personality and development. Two years old is really the best age yet!

Today was a day of readjustment after Grandma's visit. He seems to have bounced back to an even more exuberant version of his "normal" self. His whole body just lit up when I picked him up from daycare. Immediately upon coming home he asked for chalk--orange chalk--and ran to where his name was written on the driveway, and cried "E!" and tried to trace over it, then "S!" and tried to trace that! His literary achievements are being hampered by still-developing motor skills. Today's daycare sheet said "I had a very good first day back! I surprised my teachers by pulling down my pants and sitting on the potty!" Wow--and surprised Mommy too! Since he's been telling me when he "has poop" for a week now, I have started looking into buying a potty and getting a potty training book, but haven't done it yet. This is just like Elias: always just a couple weeks ahead of me. This happened with the alphabet, and counting, and now potty training and I might even say writing. Genius!

It was wonderful having my mom come visit for a week, but Elias was challenging at times. We were both sick, me with that cough and Elias with an icky, runny ear infection (which, in a reversal of the normal order, I gave to him.) Elias was additionally discombobulated by the increased flexibility of our vacation schedule. His sleeping schedule was all messed up and he didn't eat as much as usual. He clung to the familiarity of his library, insisting either Mom or me read to him ALL the time. He also had a quasi-meltdown in a fabric store. Still, with the 3 of us, we did so much more than we had before, in terms of going out to eat, out to other places, and riding a long time in the car. He especially liked riding on the train at the zoo.

Horrible & Spectacular

As motherhood goes, yesterday was simply horrible and today was spectacular. Friday night and until about 3:30am I spent vomiting, apparently with a bad case of food poisoning, along with chills and muscle aches. The only other time I was so sick was a similar episode my very first night with Elias, in Ethiopia. Like then, my physical misery was compounded by the emotional anguish of worrying that I was utterly incapable of caring for my baby. I felt very alone and helpless. (Amazingly, both times Elias slept soundly through the whole ordeal. How anyone could sleep through that happening just a few feet away is completely beyond me--perhaps God put him into that same deep sleep that got Adam through ribcage surgery.) Come morning, with my GI tract completely cleared out, I no longer felt poisoned, but was very weak and trembly. I was disappointed I had to cancel grand plans to go to the Sun Prairie Corn Festival and maybe Farmers' Market. Elias was his normal, healthy, happy, active self. I was able to spend a good hunk of the morning in bed, between diaper changes, getting him food, and restarting his blessed Elmo video. Still, he was constantly checking in/jumping on me. When I drug myself to the couch for some "quiet" reading time he was just a sqirmy hyper whirlwind climbing all over me, which was oh-so-painful. It was like he had a pathological drive to jam his toes and knees into my legs, backed by his full 30lbs. I tried to fend him off, but he had the advantage of boundless energy and pure motives, for really he was just happy & excited to be with me, such as I was. How could I scold him for that? Once again, I wouldn't've been able to cope with a less perfect child, for I'm not sure how I could've handled bad behavior, whining or crying. After a long-but-not-long-enough nap, a friend from IL came to visit, which got me through the rest of the day. I and the house were a mess, but I was too thankful for the company and help with Elias to be too embarrassed. We even went to Hubbard Street Diner for dinner where I was finally able to eat something.

What a difference a new day and 10 hours of sleep can make! I woke up much stronger today, although still queasy around food. We made it to church, then spent an hour at a park. He has largely abandoned the "2 to 5 year old" playground equipment in favor of the "big kid" structure. It makes me a little nervous because he climbs up far beyond my reach, but he really likes the challenge and the faster slides. He took a nap just long enough for me to mow the lawn; when I came back inside he was clapping for me. We wrestled a little, cleaned up a little, and talked a lot. He's still outpacing me in adding new words and partial sentences while I'm trying to understand them. Then I decided that I was up for our first trip to the pool. I logged on to my laptop to look up info on it, and Elias was immediately there, asking to see pictures of himself. So we viewed pictures from June and July, which he loved, pointing out people he knows. Then it was snacktime and off to our first pool experience. We encountered some friends there, who helped us learn the ropes. Elias was very reluctant at first. I had finally cajoled/pushed him to wade a little in the "zero-depth" pool when they called a 10 minute "safety break," when all the kids have to leave the pool. Of course, then he wanted to go in, and it was all I could do to keep him on dry land. I told him we had to wait until the other kids went back in, and when he saw them go in, he immediately started off as well. We waded out until the water was up to his chest. Then he started kicking off and bending at the waist so he was underwater with his butt up, then bobbing back up to take a breath, all giggly! Twice I put him up on my shoulders and he "jumped" off into (and under) the water. He went underwater intentionally many, many times but never sputtered like he'd inhaled any, and always came up laughing. He had a blast, and it was a joy to be with him. After just a little while, though, he started to get really cold and said "all done," so we came out. He was really cold, even though I was OK. I wrapped him in a towel and just held him close for a long time while his shivering died down, at which point he declared "home," and we left. We made detours, though, to those same friends' house to get lots of fresh corn (they had gone to the corn festival), and the grocery store mainly to get bedtime milk (where he was exceptionally good, even though still wet and around dinnertime). After dinner, we read books for nearly an hour straight. He still carefully selects each one, but now often "reads" key phrases to me, having memorized them all. What is that myth about toddlers' attention span? Tonight, like virtually always, it is me, not him, who insists on stopping reading. I was yawning and Elias declared me "tired." Yes, indeed. He had his milk, I sang a couple songs, and he went to sleep without a whimper. Then I got to clean the kitchen (sooo much better now), do 2 loads of laundry, and make a taco salad for tomorrow. Ah, life restored.

A few other tidbits:

• Elias has discovered pockets. Today I felt something hard in his jeans and pulled out a bunch of crayons, which apparently he'd swiped from daycare. I let him put them back in there to hide.
• In a related story, only about 1/2 hour later I discovered him happily and exuberantly drawing large circles in brown crayon on the dining room walls. I said "No drawing on walls!" and he broke into tears. He didn't get that crayon back. I'd wondered when my first drawing-on-the-walls episode would happen. Apparently, though, it happened 2 or 3 days ago, as I just discovered another area of green marker on the living room wall (and had noticed guilty green hands and a missing marker 2 or 3 days ago).
• I think his favorite number is 2. He likes grabbing pairs of things and declaring "Twwwo!" He counts to 10...well, without using 7. Well, who needs 7, anyway?
• He kept yelling "you! you!" at mealtime one day, holding up a slice of hotdog. Then I saw that he had eaten out the center, so indeed it was shaped just like a U. I turned it on its side, and then we celebrated the new-found "C."
• He has now turned his attention to learning "little" (lower-case) letters. He renewed his interest in his Seuss ABC book but now carefully points out and identifies the little letters in particular. Again, this is entirely self-driven; I just do capitals. I have mentioned he's a genius, right?

sick, bleh.

Here's a cheery start for a blog: I just spent the last hour or so vomiting up all vestiges of my dinner. Thankfully, Elias is sleeping peacefully. I guess I'm glad now that he didn't eat much of my cassarole at dinner, if that's what it was. Ugh. I'm hoping a few Cheerios will calm things down so I can go to bed. In the meantime, though, it's good to stay upright and think about better things...like Elias!

This morning when having his diaper changed he informed me that was "poo" and his diaper was "poopy." That must be another daycare word, since I don't say that. Recognition is the first step to potty training!

This evening he was upset that I made him come in for dinner after playing outside, and showed his frustration by whining then throwing his sippycup of milk across the room. (He might be the best baby in the world, but he's still mortal, after all.) Well, that called for a timeout in his room, where he stood and really cried for about 1/2 a minute, then abruptly stopped. So I led him back out, and he went over to the sippycup and declared "mess." He picked up the sippycup and gave it to me, I gave him a paper towel, and he went back over to the couple drops of milk on the floor and wiped them up. Awww...so good-natured and cute!

Birthday

Today is Elias' second birthday. I was actually sort of sad last night, thinking he's no longer my little baby. It's weird missing someone who's right there, and who is ever more wonderful as he grows up. Part of it surely was exhaustion from the party.

We celebrated the big 2 with a party. We hosted our new neighbors, a family from daycare, his babysitters, and some little-seen visitors, as well as the usual cohort, for about 15 adults and maybe 10 kids. I don't think he really knew it was for him (and, really, it was more for me, in celebration of him.) However, he liked singing happy birthday and his Elmo cake, lots of helium balloons, and the general chaos. He succeeded in blowing out one of the candles (the other just wouldn't go out despite lots of huffing and puffing.) The kids enjoyed playing in the water via sprinkler, pool, and hose, and some adults joined in for frisbe and laddergolf. It got better as the evening went on, especially when the cake and food were over, shyness was overcome, it cooled off a bit, and everyone could just kick back and visit and relax.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx2DMbH3Cy8

Afterwards people were really nice about helping clean up, which was especially appreciated since I was sooo sore and tired! I ached everywhere and between general exhaustion, my broken toe and nerve pain radiating down my leg, I could barely walk at all. I was really a pitiful, old, fat mess, but I don't think Elias noticed at all.

Birthday week excerpts

Elias' vocabulary is taking off and he's constantly surprising me with new words--several a day I recognize (and who knows how many that he earnestly says, but I can't recognize.) The thing that gets me the most is when he uses words or refers to things that he hasn't heard/seen/done in months. For example, it took a long time before I figured out "road-toe-tata", until he finally pointed out my rototiller stashed away in the garage. I didn't know I'd ever said that in front of him, at least not since spring, and why would it come up in daycare? He also identifies people by name whom he hasn't seen in weeks, even though before he didn't use their names.

Here's some phrases that I remember from this week.

"I go outside." As he picks up a favorite toy and heads over to the door. I love the high-pitched, confident voice and clipped, distinct syllables.

"Icky!" as he investigates the windowsill above my bed and discovers a dead fly. He immediately went over to the tissue box, got a tissue, and went back over to pick up the fly with it, then give the whole thing to me, declaring again "icky." Sorry my housekeeping isn't up to his standards, but really I'm blaming lots of it on him.

"I know my ABC's!" chanted again and again after finishing the alphabet song, usually said while laughing and shaking his head back and forth, acting proud and silly. He DOES know them, too!

"Song! Song!" requested each night before bed, and oftentimes throughout the day anytime we both sit down. Unfortunately, he often has a particular song in mind, and shakes his head and says "no" at the begining of about 70% of the songs I try. He often requests by name of the song, but aside from "Row row [your boat]" and "ABCs," I can't tell what he's saying. On some songs he likes suggesting the next verse (like "beep-beep" for Wheels on the Bus and "cow" for Old MacDonald.)