Life in the Boonies

As of March 8th Timmy began to sit in the forward facing carseat.  Now both Timmy and Frank looks forward and even Frank is excited for Timmy.  Frank does ask where he will sit in grandma’s car since that’s where Timmy’s carseat lived while we waited for him to be big enough.  I guess we’ll just have to move them from car 1 to car 2.

Timmy starting to sign grapes a few days ago.  First he would sign it after we said the word.  Today  he signed it all by himself.  He didn’t eat much of dinner and I couldn’t understand why.  He looked at me and did the sign so I gave him grapes and he was so happy.  Then he wanted more.  Then he was done.  He communicated all that with signs.  Timmy is getting better at not throwing his milk.  He puts it on the table most of the time.  Sometimes he doesn’t throw his food.  Instead he offers them to me and I eat it.  Better from his hand then from the floor.  He is definitely signing bird.  He does his pincher fingers and says dididi.  I asked him where and he pointed outside. Timmy signs bedtime by patting his head.  I always pats his head after tucking him in while saying goodnight.  One time I think he said nitenite.

The last week or so Timmy has been bending down in downward dog position.  I think he wants to do a saumersault.  Finally I captured it on camera after coersing him by asking Frank to do saumersault after saumersault.

Timmy likes to imitate Frank.  Timmy like to talk on the phone.  Timmy likes screwdrivers to chew on.  Timmy likes to drive his tangerine slices before consuming it.  He likes to drive cars on mommy’s body.

Dick Francis

On my mom-in-laws recommendation, I have read several Dick Francis novels.

Shattered - It was my first one. I love how he teaches you so much about something that is almost irrelavent to the storyline and then at the end uses that information to resolve/explain. It had almost nothing about horses and lots about glass blowing. It was a good story but now that I have read a few more of his novels, it is not my favorite.

Field of Thirteen - This was thirteen different stories and I don’t remember much about it now except that I really enjoyed it. Maybe I’ll reread it later and make notes of what they are about.

Wild Horses - I really enjoyed this book. The backdrop is the making of a movie. The main character is the director. He solves an old case from 20 years ago in which his film is loosely based on and almost gets killed. It was also neat for me cuz I finished it the week before the Oscars.

The Danger - Just finished this one and it was wonderful. The story is about a man whose job is to help get kidnapped people back. He resolves one case after another and they all seem to be tied together somehow. The kidnapper is the same person but the crime is committed in three different countries.

It is true, the second child gets short changed.  So Timmy’s First Word is really several words and I really don’t know which came first.  In my mind it is ba ba for bye bye.  I was on the phone and when I said bye and hung up, Timmy was right next to me and he did his goodbye wave and said baba.  Soon after he clearly said “HI” upon seeing grandpa.  The last two days he is saying miemie and signing milk.  A few times he said gaga and went for his giraffe animal named Gabriella but that has not been consistently repeated enough for me to count it.

The other day he said dididi and pointed to a bird flying by.  I quickly told Nat since I always say bird, dididi and do the sign for bird.  Then as soon as I finished my sentence, Timmy pointed to the outside light and said dididi.

Timmy loves music.  When his electronic toys start to sing songs, he would bounce up and down regardless if he is sitting or standing at the time.  We are listening to Music Together Bongos Songbook right now and they have a tune called fireworks.  It has only the syllable Ba.  Every time that songs comes up in the car or at home Timmy would repeat the first long tone exactly like the CD.  I may never get around to taping this for future enjoyment but at least it is now documented.

Just tonight Timmy heard Nat tell Frank about girl scout cookies after dinner and he came with both palms twisting like the cookie sign and said gaga.  Then at storytime we read One Gorilla.  Timmy loves the yellow flower on one page and kept turning back there and pointing to it.  Then he did the flower sign.

Timmy clearly understands many of the things I say.  When I say where is Gabriella?  He looks around and shows clear concern.  If I point and say look, here she is.  He looks and goes get her.  He loves airplanes.  Probably cuz so many fly by the house.  When he hears one, he does his airplane sign, which is just his pointer finger waving in the air, and looks up to find it.  When he wants to go outside, I say you need your shoes on and then he calms down and waits.  He even tries to put on his shoes by holding me and sticking his feet in.

He likes to brush his teeth.  I think it is because he sees big brother doing it.  When I say let’s go brush your teeth, he climbs up the stepping stool and takes the toothbrush.  He also likes to splash the running water with the toothbrush.  I let him and then turn it off and say now brush.  He then sticks the toothbrush in his mouth and shakes his head back and forth.

He now has seven teeth.  Four on top and three on bottom, all in the front.  He takes one nap after lunch and sleeps for 1-2.5 hours.  He goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up anywhere from 7 to 8 (sometimes depending on how much noise big brother is making or if everyone is still asleep).  Timmy loves grapes and oranges and tofu and meat.  He does the orange sign perfectly.  Occasionally I think it means eat but since he loves oranges, it is hard for me to tell.  Not much in the green vegetable department except avocados and those are not a vegetable.  He loves oatmeal and pancake and biter biscuits.  When he is done eating he starts to throw food.  He is now better at putting the milk back on the table when done after I said it over and over and demonstrated it.  One less thing for me to pickup.  He does the all done sign and then tries to push the tray off.

Timmy is happy most of the time.  He has been sick for several weeks.  Probably one cold after another since Frank is bringing home germs from preschool.  With big running nose and a slight cough, he continues to play and eat and sleep.  He likes to push Frank on the ride-on toys.  He loves to play peek-a-boo.  He hates it when I leave the room.  After his diaper change he comes with me to throw it away and after I wash my hands he will say hi to his puppet friend on the cork-board.  He gets immensely jealous of me holding anyone other than him, including Frank and Nat.  If I give them a hug or am just helping Frank put on his pants, Timmy comes over to push him away.  With Nat he squeezes in between Nat’s legs and begs for me to pick him up.