Candy

Tonight Waterboy was heading into a mood as we were getting him ready for bed, so I tried to play a little game with him.

He'd had a couple of Starbursts earlier in the evening, so I touched his tummy and said "I think I feel a candy in there!"

His mood clearly lifted, and he replied "A LOT of candy!"

What is in a name?

Recently, Waterboy started asking for a dog. He'd also like a cat, a snake, a mouse, and some fish. But a dog is at the top of his list.

We told him that when he's ready for "no more diapers" we can get a dog. [With Waveboy, it was a bike. Waterboy is raising the stakes a bit.] It's definitely made him much more focused on the "no diapers" goal.

So when we were talking about a dog last night, I asked him what he would like to name the dog. Without skipping a beat, he replied simply,

"Sweet"

Good grief. It was all I could do to keep from running out and buying that boy a dog RIGHT THEN!

All tail, no gecko

Waveboy and Waterboy received a bug zoo for Christmas, and one of their first tenants was a gecko. In this video, Waveboy explains what happened when he trapped the gecko.



[For anyone who is getting ready to call animal protection services, don't worry. The gecko is now re-growing his tail in the wild.]

I see Ah-Ahs

Waterboy didn't speak much until after his second birthday. Maybe having a very talkative older brother made him hesitant to jump in.

But since he turned 2, he has become more and more verbal, and he's even invented a few words of his own. Some are easy to understand—"who who" for "train" (although he can also say "train.") Some are more complex—I don't think I can accurately transcribe the word "blub-ub", which was his word for water. (He abandoned that word about two weeks ago.)

Around Halloween, he started using the word "ah-ah", which he used for jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and skeletons.

It's been a little eerie—once he pointed to the kitchen and said "There's an ah-ah." I was a bit worried that our house was haunted, until Dada pointed out that there was a small picture of a ghost on a decoration Waveboy had made.

I also need to post the video of Waterboy saying—in a very spooky voice and with his arms waving—"Ah-ah says 'Wake up Waterboy!'"

This morning, he wanted to assure me that he was not dying. I'm not sure what prompted his concern, but to reinforce his point he added: "I'm not dying. I'm not turning into an ah-ah."

Thanks, Waterboy. What a way to freak me out so early in the morning.

Ski bum

You'd think with a name like Waveboy, his vacation spot of choice would be a beach with sweet waves, but this year, he was very certain he wanted to go skiing.

This picture was taken on the first day of the trip:



















He clearly remembered the "pizza" stance from the previous year, and by the end of the week, his "french fries" were looking pretty good too, and he was starting to tackle blue runs. [Maybe "tackle" is the wrong word—the kids just point their skis and go. A whole class of them look like a flock of goslings following their mother/instructor.]

It was snowing so heavily on the third day day of our trip that I figured I might as well ski too. And who'd have guessed, but when there's a lot of powder, I can even do french fries too! I surprised myself.

As we prepared to head home, Waveboy was trying to understand why he couldn't just go to ski school instead of regular school. They're both school, right?

Right?

Ain't no money in poetry . . .

. . . that's what sets the poet free.

[The line is from the Guy Clark song "Cold Dog Soup."]

Waveboy's class has been working on poetry, and one of his poems was featured in the class newsletter this week.

Naturally, I think it's a work of profound genius, but feel free to judge for yourself:

The Story

It's
The
Most
scariest
story
of
my
life
Please
tell
it
again

Toast, I think

Another classic Waveboy moment captured on video. Even with the plate of pizza still in front of him, he can't quite remember what he had for dinner. He makes a good guess, though.