My Almost Two-Year-Old

(FYI, for anyone who asked/cares, I updated the last post with the name of the books. I don't think google reader shows updates.)

So James still has a few more months before he turns the big 2 (not until the end of November), but he's such a funny little rugrat that I wanted to share some of the crazy things he says/does.

James is hilarious and he knows it. Anyone who says little kids don't understand sarcasm never met a kid like James. He continues to be a little parrot, repeating absolutely everything we say. He now talks only in full sentences--no more one word commands like "milk"--now it's "I want some milk," which is awesome. He also continues to be Mr. Sassy Pants.

The other day I asked if he was ready for bed and he glared at me and said "What do you think?"

Today he started having a full-on conversation by himself (side note: he loves to play in the car, pretending to drive, which I know is not the ideal place to play). His conversation went something like this:

James: "Mom, I want to go play in car. Let's go drive." Looks up at me and says in a somewhat different tone of voice, "Okay, James, you can drive car." Smiles really big, claps his hands, grabs my hand and says "Okay, let's go!" I laughed for about five minutes over this one.

He's way into sniffing things right now. He must have learned it from watching a dog sniff. It's the only conclusion I can come up with. Instead of giving kisses now, he'll come up to your face and sniff at your nose. He does this with everything: his toy cars, his stuffed animals, pictures in books, etc. It is both weird and endearing.

When he gets confused or isn't sure about how something works he says "What the what?"

Dental families will love this one (that he obviously learned from Brian): Whenever he is brushing his teeth and accidentally flicks some water off the bristles he'll run around yelling "Exposure!!!"

It boggles my mind that for more than half of this kid's life he has been walking, talking and saying "No." Now, in addition to "No" it's "Nope," "I don't think so!" or "Stop it!" He still continues to tell everyone around him (including little old ladies at the grocery store) "NO!" when he is super tired/cranky. I think the "stop it!" bothers me more than the "No" does though.

When we were in Utah, on our way up to Park City, James was extra cranky and didn't want anyone even looking at him. We kept doing it anyway and it was totally frustrating him. Since he didn't quite know how to articulate his message and he knew a simple "No!" wasn't cutting it anymore, he started yelling at us "No eyes! No eyes!" That got the message across, I suppose.

Here he is in my parent's backyard playing in the hippo pool his grandma bought him. He probably could have lived in their backyard while we were there. No humidity and temperatures in the 80s was glorious.


I sure do love this kid. I'm not sure what we ever did without him.

Nerd Alert

Maybe if anyone ever sends me pictures of our vacation earlier this month, I'll get around to posting about that. But since I'm currently pictureless, I'll write about what a major nerd I am instead (as if most people don't already know).

The last few weeks, I've had a weird urge to re-read some books I used to love from my childhood. This included The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, etc., and also The Little House books. While thinking about the Little House books (which, I am aware, is total nerd-city in and of itself), my memory went back to my early tween days and how after reading all of those books (which stop being entertaining to me when Laura enters adulthood--same with the Anne books--why is that?) I happened upon another series of books that takes place during the same time frame about a group of crazy kids being raised by their single preacher father.

I could only remember bits and pieces of these books but knew that way back when I first read them, I had thought they were hilarious and the grandest things ever written. I willed myself to remember what they were called and my memory failed me terribly. I tried googling my vague references but came up empty handed there, too.

I knew I would go crazy if I couldn't figure out what they were called.

So, I made the only logical decision: that when I went back home to Utah I would go to my old library and find these books because, oddly enough, I could remember exactly where they were located (I lose my car keys constantly but can somehow remember the exact location of a library book I checked out 18 years ago. Obviously my short-term memory needs some work).

Well, after arriving in Utah and telling my mother my plan (hoping she'd remember the names of the books), she convinced me that going back to the library would be a waste of time. During a nearly 20 year time span, libraries do rearrange their shelves, afterall. I conceded that she was right, but still secretly hoped for a trip to that library anyway.

But, before I knew it, my time at home was dwindling to an end and there would be no time to visit the library. Uhg. If I didn't figure it out while I was at home, I knew I never would. And maybe it was just as well.

Lo and behold, a miracle occurred on my last morning there.

I was cleaning out a closet in my old bedroom and popped open a tupperware box with some old school work in it and the very first thing I pulled out was a handwritten book report. But not just any book report. It was a report detailing every book in that very series that I had been wondering about. I now had the name of not only the series, but of every single book in the series. What were the chances?

The really nerdy part? This "book report" was not written for school. Nope. I was so obsessed with these books that I did a write-up on them just for fun. It included character sketches, book summaries, and even a four-star rating system for each of the books.

All I could do was laugh and thank my 12-year-old self for being such a geek. Who knew that 18-years-later this would be just what I was looking for?

After a quick search on Amazon.com, I am now the proud owner of all eight of those books. Were they as interesting/entertaining as they were when I was 12? Well, no, not really. I've read too many books in those 18-years to reconstitute what good literature entails.

But, for a quick read, they do the trick. I've had the books less than six days and I'm currently on book five of the series. So although they aren't quite as riveting as I remembered, they are entertaining enough that I have to keep reading.

I think re-reading old favorites is a must every now and then. I cannot stomach watching a movie more than once, but re-reading an old book is like getting reacquainted with an old friend and I highly recommend it.

If that's not nerdy advice, I don't know what is.

Update: Oops. Totally forgot the most important part! The series is called "The Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder" and is by T.L. Tedrow. If anyone else out there ever read these, I'd love to know! Also, if anyone wants to borrow the books, let me know! :)