Wittle tiny...somethingorother

Zoe seems delighted (translation: obsessed) with smallish toys. At first, it was her "wittle tiny" elephant. Then the "wittle tiny" bear. Now, anything under 6 inches becomes her "wittle tiny" fill in the blank. And make no mistake - if it is wittle tiny, it is hers.

More JJisms

"One tiny leetle piece of chewocolate?" - Um...how could I say no to that?

"Hey man! Poly" - as in, "hey man, I think you need a new coat of poly" a line from Cars by Ramone (voiced by Cheech Marin). Now, this is cute in and of itself, but what makes it is that JJ delivers this in his best gruff approximation of Cheech Marin (which is pretty darn good).

"T-Rex got me!" - He will alternately pretend that a T-Rex or an alligator is chasing him around the house. Amusingly, his sense of scale is such that, when prompted as to exactly where the T-Rex is, he points to the ground, usually under a chair.

"Zozo kwying - it's ok Zozo!" This second reassurance is usually delivered at the top of his lungs at a shout.

JJisms

"hoe-ja" - hold ya or, more accurately, pick me up

"heardit!" I heard something

"checkitout!" - let's go see whatever made that noise, delivered in a breathy, schwartzenegger-esque tone

"here go" - here you go, you can have this

"maaalk" - mommy milk, please

"shoowar" - yes, I'm sure

"baff" - bath

"chewocolate" - chocolate

"spreaditout" - spread the blanket out

Communication Tip: From JJ

So here is a communication tip from JJ (LOL!): Get a sign language book for toddlers. Teach them sign language using the book. Then, when mommy and daddy are tired and not being very smart, the toddler can get the book and point to the sign in addition to saying and signing the word to get his idea across.

JJ has done this before when he wants John to get me for "milk" but he reached a new high this weekend. He was signing "sick" at us, but we totally missed it (mostly because he never used that sign before). He goes and gets his book, brings it to us, flips to the page with the sick sign, points to it, signs it, says "sick, medsin" John asks him "Does something hurt? what hurts?" and JJ nods his head and signs "pain" and says "Hurt, head." Poor kid had a sinus headache and knew that some medicine (Tylenol) would help. He'd had a runny nose all weekend but it never even occurred to me he might have a headache.

Sometimes I just have to be grateful that at least one of us is on top of things - even if it's the toddler!

Broccoli, Please

Hooray! Last night we had porkchops, rice, broccoli, and carrots. JJ has started that "picky eater" stage, so I figured he'd have some rice then start angling for a cookie. But he dived straight into the carrots, woofed down the rice, devoured the broccoli (giving the pork chops a miss, but hey, beggers can't be choosers).

Then he looked at me and said and signed "More broccoli please!" and proceeded to have 2 more servings of broccoli!

That's my boy :)

Walk, Bar, and other words

I don't even remember when JJ couldn't talk. It seems like he's been chatting up a one word at a time storm forever now! He's so excited he's figured out how to make himself understood that he just about explodes with joy every time you "get" it. My two favorites (because he get soooo excited) are "bar" (as in cereal bar - which he doesn't get very often but LOVES) and "walk" (as in, taking a walk around the block in the stroller, which we do daily). He'll try his best to crawl into the stroller chanting "walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk..." you just have to love it.

He's also started to find humor in slapstick. John will pretend to hit himself in some excessively silly way and JJ will laugh so hard he'll actually choke himself! When he finally catches his breath, he'll look expectantly at John and say and sign "more?" I guess there are 3 stooges movies in my future...sigh...

Baby or belly?

Strangest thing. Since I've been pregnant, but before I knew, JJ has been pointing at my belly and putting his ear on it like he's listening for something. At first I thought "oh gosh, I've gotten fat enough he's looking at it like another breast", but that's not it. He keeps pointing at it and then smiling and putting his ear to it. Then three of days ago, he does this same thing and says "Baby." Could've knocked me over with a feather! Now, we've talked about the pregnancy in front of him and told him he's going to be a big brother, but I don't really think he understands or has any means of comprehension for such an abstract concept at this point. But here he is saying "baby." Then I thought, maybe he is trying to say "Belly" instead. That would make a lot more sense. Two days ago he did it again, except with John in the room. John's jaw dropped - "Did he just say 'baby'?" So, maybe he did. How would he know?

Quacking in his sleep

Night before last, JJ is in bed with us when suddenly he belts out in a very loud clear voice "QUACK QUACK QUACK DUCK!" then starts snoring softly. Never woke up the whole time. You have to wonder....what was THAT dream all about?

Reading with me

JJ loves books. One of his first words and signs was "book" :) And one of his favorite books is Sandra Boynton's Moo Baa La La La. So, yesterday, he brings me the book and hops up in my lap for me to read to him. I start off "The Cow say" and he interrupts me to say "Moo!" and then proceeded to fill in all the animal noises at all the right places (except the rhinos)! It was really cool - he's never done anything like that before. I was thrilled. Oh, and of course we get to the end and I read the last line "It's quiet now, what do YOU say?" and he says "Woof." LOL

Da da da da da

I know it's not deliberate, but we officially have "da da" (albeit sandwiched in with "ga ba do ga zzzzzzz") He's turning into quite the little talker! Just gabbling away at us all day. Got to love it!

Icklel Ickle Ickle

OK, so the freakiest thing happened today. I'm laying on the bed tickling JJ saying "tickle tickle tickle!" and he's laughing and all of a sudden he stops, looks up and me and says "ickle, ickle, ickle" clear as a bell, same rhythm and intonation I'd been using. I was so totally shocked I couldn't believe it! It was very freaky. Cool, but freaky. I mean, he's not saying mama or dada yet so to have something so clear come out was really weird, like possessed child weird! John says it's normal to have that happen once in a while and of course I couldn't get him to repeat the feat...