i'm tired of this.

our family has been sick for the past week or so. whether linus is actually sick, i am not sure, but he has responded to the sickness of his parents as a new two-year-old might. he was overdue for a nap this afternoon, walking around the kitchen, being destructive. i, of course, not at my parenting best, may have snatched a pan out of his hand and yelled "no" in his ear at the sound of metal crashing against metal. my limit came after he reached down my shirt in a rather rough manner than hit me in the face. needless to say, i allowed him to be sad on the floor for a few moments after that.

i picked him up to sit on my lap and, rubbing his eyes, he said, "i'm tired of this." i said, "i know, honey. i'm tired of this too. what should we do instead?" pause. "have milk." "have milk in bed?" "yeah."

snooze.

pretend papa

we had a guest at lunch today: pretend papa.

pretend papa ate corn out of linus's soup, ate the pumpkin on the table, sat on the couch, and read stories to linus.

first response to the question, "who loves linus?": angie.

unexpected responses

When asked what he would like to have for lunch today, upon waking up from his nap, he replied, "Hot sauce."

After a good 15 minutes of nursing before bed, without saying much at all, Linus pops off the boob to say, "I love you." Nurse nurse. "Made Papa sad." Nurse Nurse. "Broke water can." Nurse nurse nurse.

Better.

Linus has been having a hard time lately. He gets frustrated easily when he can't communicate effectively, he gets mad when he's not allowed to have or do what he wants, and only wants to eat dairy products (or tortilla chips dipped in dairy products, or sugary dairy products scooped with tortilla chips). Papa has also been working towards a deadline for the past couple of weeks and has been unavailable for meeting Linus's every playtime need.

The other day, I can't remember which, was going as most of our days have been going lately. Linus was following me around making unreasonable requests and getting extremely upset when alternatives were offered. Something happened, I can't remember exactly what, and he got mad, crying and flailing, accepting no comfort. When something happens, we generally talk about it. I empathize and validate and he does or does not agree that I really care about his well being. I must have said to him, "You are so mad about that. You are having such a hard time, my love." Time passed and we were getting in the car. I was buckling him into his car seat (but not the chest buckle! that one's for linus!), when he said to me, "Not so mad now. Better." It took me a while to process what he had told me, but when I realized that he had taken the time to check in with himself, think about it, then report back to me how he was feeling, I melted. Melted. My one-and-three-quarters-year-old remembered that he was sad, realized he felt better, and told his mother about it.

Emotional genius.

linus's favorite video

"hydroplaning at more than 140 km/h, miramar argentina"

colors

this morning linus surprised me by spontaneously identifying my shirt as yellow.  or more like "lllelllow."  i think he's got the hang of blue too.  i'm playing it cool, as usual.

the potty situation

until further notice, if you see linus using the potty by himself, DO NOT SAY OR DO ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY.  no congratulations, no gold star stickers, nothing like that -- it's totally a workaday thing to use the toilet.  we go about our business while he goes about his.

yesterday at breakfast

i am checking my email over a bowl of oatmeal.  i don't think linus can see the iphone on which i am checking the email.

linus: "papa!  no ipod!"

it's going to be a long childhood.

today's developments

• learned to use a drinking straw
• made a joke pronunciation of "elephant" ("efeladladladladla")
• expressed preferences about animals at the zoo (most favored: fish; lions)
• first big-box wholesale experience
• first "kid's meal" (it was free)

multi-word phrases

other phrases we've heard:

• "beach bag"
• "wash (long pause) hands"
• "papa, sit"
• "i want some geek" (grapes)
• "pie book" (referring to this book)
• "up (pause) stairs"
• "downthere"

names and taxonomies

linus learned the name of a friend's neighbor's cat just before they moved away (taking their cat with them).  the cat's name is mufasa.  linus says "moofascia bao."

possessive adjective & a number

"my water."  "two cups."

proceeding apace

more walking

more and more walking. it seems to be becoming his default. we will miss the crawling.

tonight he picked up a book and walked around looking for grandma L saying "gapa? book."

nearly walking

still experimenting with walking! still doing it in fits and starts.

in other news, he can say "water" and "book" and he enjoys spelling along with me. "bee oh oh kay."

it's where the goodness collects

we're told linus ate lots of sauteed beef liver with reduced sherry during his visit to the barry household this afternoon.

important development

he hugs!

generalizations

four-legged animals: "woof woof."
stuff in a bowl in the kitchen: "dough."
women: "amy."

bye!

latest thing: linus consistently says "bye" to the bath, his kitchen doorway swing, people, places, et cetera. especially to his kitchen doorway swing, which he loves but only in small doses.

bock bock

i picked linus up from t&t's house this evening and he clucked at me (they have chickens). he associates chickens ("bock bock") and eggs ("eggies"). he said "moon" all the way from the porch door to the car.

late night living room scene

circa 3:45am, having just had a diaper change, nursing in the living room, linus is quiet for a long time. from the bedroom it looks as though he's asleep. then:

"dark."

several beats. "snow."

several beats. "moon."

early morning scene

circa 4:45am.

having just been danced back to sleep after a diaper change, linus is sawing logs with his cheek on the sheepskin.

evidently dreaming about dogs. hauls self up on hands, says "woof woof woof!" crawls over to mama to resume sleep.

evening scene

sitting at the table, naked from the waist down while a diaper rash heals, grownup-sized oven mitts on both hands, trying to drink from a small water bottle.