In the Toddler Groove

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Andy

Sarah was reading a book to Titus, and we realized she’d had a toddler day when she accidentally substituted the word “obedient” with “disobedient”!

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A Big Boy

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Andy

Here’s another story from Titus and Asher’s weekend at Grandpa and Grandma’s house:

Grandpa asked Titus, “Titus, do you want to help me stoke the wood boiler?”
Titus, “No.”
Grandpa said, “Are you sure you don’t want to help me stoke the wood boiler?”
Titus, “No, I don’t want to help you.”
One final effort to get help from Grandpa, “I don’t know if I can do it without you.”
Titus, “You can do it, Grandpa. You’re a big boy.”

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Flawed

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Andy

I am frequently reminded of how flawed I am.   That’s why I have young children!  Even when I do something dumb, they still think I’m the greatest dad in the world.

But all good things come to an end.  I crashed into a snow bank in our driveway this winter and broke the bumper of my car.  Starting a week ago, every time we entered the driveway from a biking excursion or visit to the park, Titus would ask, “What happened to your car, Daddy?”, and Sarah or I would respond, “It has an owie.” Titus would follow that answer with “How did it get an owie?”, and we’d end up explaining how Daddy isn’t really good at successfully navigating the driveway.

Disappointing my 3 ½ year old is hard, but isn’t impossible.  He’s a smart little kid, learning how to live in a world where everyone makes mistakes.  However, I almost returned my driver’s license to the DMV when Asher walked up to my car this weekend, stuck his little head right up next to the hole in my bumper and said, “Daddy, break!”

It’s rough being flawed…especially when your kids realize it, too!

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I WAHN it!

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Andy

I really wanted to do a phonetic posting of some of my favorite Asher words, but he’s at the stage where a word may come out differently every time he says it.  Since he’s becoming more brave with his words, I’ve had a lot of fun asking him to repeat things like “vegetables” (he manages some 3-syllable response every time).  Here are some other fun phrases he uses:

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Asher still says “oowie” when he’s hurt or inconvenienced, but since we’re trying to separate pain from irritation, he tends to follow it up with “hurr”.

Asher: Oowie!

Andy: Does it hurt?  What hurts?

Asher: Hurr. (sadly, as he points to a tag that’s hanging off of a new shirt)

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“I WAHN it” and “I NEEE it” are two phrases that he uses a lot.

Asher (upon seeing a big yellow snow plow in the parking lot yesterday): Tractor!

Andy: Yeah, that’s a tractor snow plow.

Asher: I WAHN it!

Asher does not like to ride in the stroller when Titus gets to ride his bike.  He gets rolled out of the porch screaming, “my tike! my tike! I WAHN it!”

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Neapolitan

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Andy

Titus and I were getting ready for the day this morning when he started talking about his three favorite flavors.  I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.  At first I was thinking flavors of milk, then cookies/Oreos, then ice cream, but all of those were wrong.  One thing I do know…Titus has his mom’s love of garlic!

Titus: I like chocolate.  I like chocolate first, then white.  I like chocolate and white together!

Andy: Are you talking about milk?

Titus: No. (big smile) I like chocolate and white together with milk!

Andy:  Are you talking about cookies or ice cream?

Titus:  I like chocolate, then white, with cookies and milk!

Andy:  What do you like next?

Titus: Garlic!  I like chocolate, then white, THEN garlic!

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