Stuff [because I'm running out of titles]

I'm back with a few photos, tales of adventure, and the new things I've been saying that will make your toes curl with their cuteness.


Let me start with Wednesday: first, I went down the street to go swimming in the neighborhood pool, and then my picnic at Wade Oval got rained out, but my friends Marixa and Jim came over to my house instead, and I got reacquainted with them. My parents told me they were coming, but I hadn't seen them in a while, so I felt weird when they arrived and I hid in my room. I could see that my parents liked them, though, and Marixa kept talking to me from the doorway, and in a few minutes it was like old times. We ate my current favorite food - pizza! - and then went for a ride in the wagon to Momocho to pick up guacamole and chips - maybe my second most favorite food! - and brought them back home. I knocked over a couple of bottles of beer in my urgent lunges for the chips, but it was otherwise an excellent evening. In fact, I can't stop thinking about Jim and Marixa - every time we get in the car, I ask, "Jim's house?" and when my parents tell me we're getting ready to see some person or another, I ask, "See Marixa?" I really, really dig them.


Thursday, I got my hair cut for the third time ever. I was feeling kind of out of sorts, so I wasn't as excited about the fun music and animal crackers and movies as in the past, but the stylist let me sit on Daddy's lap, which helped a little, and when it was over I got a prize - a duck in a soccer jersey with a soccer ball! Man, I love that soccer duck. After my haircut, we went to a park behind the Target in Fairview Park; it had a really cool playground plus big soccer fields and baseball diamonds. I had never been on a baseball field before, so that was cool; I stood on the pitcher's mound and threw a pretend ball to Mommy, and she pretended to hit it, then Daddy pitched to me while Mommy showed me how to hit. Some high school kids were playing in a marching band on the next field, and I loved running around the outfield and marching along with them!


Later, I went to Joel and Lynn's house and got to play outside with my neighbor Isaac. We played with my big green ball, but my neighbor Alta was too little to play, because she is maybe six or seven months old, so every once in a while I put the green ball in her lap for a few seconds, and I think she liked it. Isaac's mom, Danielle, brought brownies that were soooo delicious, and I would have eaten the whole container if the big people wouldn't have kept hiding them from me, which ticked me off. When I had worn myself out and was ready to go home, my parents just kept yakking away, so I finally had to throw my juicebox and then my green ball over Joel and Lynn's fence so they would get the message. Sheesh. Sometimes they are really, really dense.

Friday, I went to the Library and read a book about a little blue truck and then had a banana for lunch at Johnny Mango's. My friend Maggie was coming over, and Mommy asked me what I thought Maggie and I could do together. I thought about it and then told her, "Um, play cars, aaaaaand read books, aaaaaand ride wagon." When Maggie came over, we were happy to see each other and had a good time playing and eating peanut butter quesadillas, but when it was bedtime, Maggie got really sad and cried for her mommy. My mommy was holding her but she was still sad, so I climbed up with them and got in Maggie's face and told her, "Maggie, I come," in a comforting tone. She kept crying, but I think it secretly made her feel better that I was there.


Yesterday, I went to breakfast with Nonna and Mommy, but I didn't feel like eating. The booth we were sitting in had a curved top that was just the right width to be a rolling road for my cars, and I had a good time racing them down the hill, until I lost my cars in the tiny little gap between the booth and the wall. I was pretty upset and did not want Mommy and Nonna to keep talking while my cars were lost, so we all got up and Mommy tried to scoot them out with her knife, but she couldn't get them, so our server had to come over with a HUGE knife to get them out. It was pretty exciting.

Last evening, after we picked up Daddy from work, we went to Euclid Creek Reservation, a park I had never seen before, for a birthday party for my friend David. He is my friend Orson's daddy, and I was really, really happy to see Orson. He is a year old than me and knows how to do cool stuff like play catch with a baseball. I got to eat a ton of potato chips and some red birthday cake, and I drank from an actual water fountain. My parents forgot to take pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it, but below is a picture of me with Orson and his sister Zelda from last week when they came over.



Later today, I'm going to go see my friend Greg play in a band. Mommy told me yesterday that we were going, and asked if I remembered Greg and Dyan. I thought really hard, then told her, "Bidge," which is my way of saying, yes, I remember hanging out with them under the Detroit Superior Bridge a couple of months ago. I have to take my nap now, though, so I feel good when we go to the concert. Tomorrow, I'm going to Tennessee to see Grandpa. My parents have been telling me we're getting ready to go, but for some reason they won't just take me there now. They keep telling me about "tomorrow" and about it being after I sleep tonight, but I say, if we're going anyway, why wait? Sometimes, they drive me nuts.

P.S. I still have pictures to show you from Argentina and from Florida, but maybe this week I can get my mommy to just make a little movie of them, and then I'll post it here for you to see. And here are some pics of me going to the lake last week with Bailey:

Is this thing on?

Hi, guys. I've been waiting for Mommy to download and sort my photos, but she says that every time she sits down to do it, I divert her attention to my wants and/or needs. So, for now, I'll just tell you about what I've been up to, and when she gets it together, I'll post the pics. OK? OK!

I should tell you first about my visit to Florida, to see my cousin Johnny. This time, I could play with him and converse with him way better than I ever could before now, so it made playing together so much cooler. One of my favorite things was to play cars with him, with his cars and racetrack from the "Cars" movie. My favorite car is Lightning McQueen ("NYT-nee MaKEEEE!") but I like the others, too, like Chick Hicks and the Sheriff. Johnny taught me how to run the racetrack this time, because I was too little last time I went to his house, and I was really, really proud to do it myself.

Another thing I liked doing was riding the carousel at the mall. I learned the word "carousel" the week before, when I rode the big carousel in Buenos Aires, and now I am a big fan. One time, Johnny rode a motorcycle while I rode in a car, and another time I rode in a duck. We also had a good time at home, in his backyard, hanging out with Nonna. This time, I was big enough to climb up on Johnny's slide by myself, and sliding is probably my favorite outdoor activity ever. We also played with some balls and did a little digging in the backyard, and one evening Uncle John even put on a little fireworks show for us, and I couldn't stop saying "wow!"

We took a little road trip while we were in Jacksonville to Orlando. We got to eat awesome ("awesome" being one of my new favorite words) snacks in the van, like Doritos and vanilla sandwich cookies, and watch "Caillou" over and over again on the DVD player. Johnny and I both love to watch "Caillou" and always agreed that we wanted it turned on whenever we got in the van.

When we got to Orlando, we went to the airport and picked up my daddy. I was happy to see him and sit by him in the van after not seeing him for almost a week! We put on my "No!" CD, and when the song "Fibber Island" came on, I turned to my daddy and smiled and said, "Good song!" Then we went to a condo where we could all stay together, and Uncle Jon came, too, and then Johnny and I were really happy, because Uncle is one of us boys! We had fun eating pizza together and watching Dora and Diego and going swimming with our daddys and taking baths in the giant jacuzzi tub. An extra treat was the arrival of Alex and Jessica and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dave. We had lunch together, and they brought Johnny and me each our very own microphones. That evening, we put on a little concert for everyone, and they all cheered for us.

One other thing I wanted to tell you about was my last night in Jacksonville. Nonna and Aunt Lissa were hanging some pictures, and I saw some baby pictures in the hallway. I asked Nonna about them, and when she said they were of my brother, I said, "Hans." My parents talk to me about my brother sometimes, but they were surprised I put it all together. Listen, I pay attention to everything. Just because I don't always say so doesn't mean I don't know what's going on, people.

After being away from home for three weeks, I was happy to get back to my favorite place - home (or as I like to call it, "MY-no's houth!"). Mommy and I went to Target to get some fresh milk and stuff, and when we walked down one aisle, there were three big girls talking to other in Spanish. I surprised everyone when I turned to them, waved, and yelled, "HOLA!" But I had just spent a week and a half in places where everyone was speaking Spanish, even my parents sometimes, and I know Spanish when I hear it!

I've been having some good times since I've been home. One day, I went to a big outdoor mall with my parents where there was a different kid ride in front of almost every store. I got to ride a train and a bulldozer, but after that my parents walked me across the parking lot instead of down the sidewalks, because I was obsessed with riding those machines! After we shopped, I thought we were going to Oma's house because the road looked like the one going to her house. My parents explained that we were in Aurora and later Peninsula and not in North Olmsted, but now that I was thinking about going to Oma's house, I could talk about nothing else, so my mommy called Oma and then I talked to her one on the phone for almost eight minutes, which is a personal record. I felt a little better after we talked, and then we ate dinner in a restaurant next to a train station, where I saw a navy blue locomotive and an orange caboose, and after dinner (at which I ate four pickles and a few french fries but nothing else) the two big guys at the table next to us leaned over and complimented me on how amazingly well behaved I was, and my parents were extremely proud of me.

Another day, my friends Zelda and Orson and their parents David and Toni came over, and I got to eat pizza in the living room! I was thrilled to get to play with such big kids, and after dinner we three kids rode together in my wagon to the Gather Round Farm. The chickens were having a first birthday party, and we took them some beets as a present, and we got to run around between all the crops, and it was wonderful. When they got in their car to go home, I yelled, "Bye, friends!" and then "Thanks for your help!" which was a little confusing to my parents but I knew what I meant.

This week, Mommy and I went to the Natural History Museum, which was the coolest museum I think I have ever visited. There were all kinds of animals and fish, plus all of these HUGE dinosaur skeletons. Downstairs, there's a big room of stuff that kids can touch and do, which was my favorite part. I helped some big kids sift some sand to search for fossils, and I did some puzzles and also looked through microscopes. I can't wait to get back there!

Yesterday, I went to Maggie's house for dinner, and I got to play on the porch with Maggie, which was cool, because Maggie has started walking and we can do more stuff together. She has a fire hat, which I loved, and two dogs, who loved me.

I have been putting new words together into ever-more-complex sentences lately, and I'm grasping some new concepts, such as the fact that food and drinks need to be prepared before I can have them, and that the preparation takes time. When I was younger, I used to freak out if I asked for milk and it wasn't handed to me that very second, but now when someone is filling my cup or cutting my fruit or cooking my veggie sausages, I remind myself to be patient by saying "makin' it" or "cookin' it" and it makes it easier to hang on. I'm also toying with the concept of "you" and trying to sort out how to use it exactly. Sometimes I get it turned around, like when I ask my parents, "Carry you?" or "Read it to you?" or (my mommy's favorite) "Bring it to you?" - I'm asking to be carried or read to, not offering to put them on my back, but thank goodness my parents understand what I mean, or I would need to see a chiropractor. Other times, I get the "you" part right but get the word order turned around, like when I was saying good-bye to my daddy in Houston a couple of weeks ago, I held his face and said sadly, "Daddy miss you."

I'm also getting the whole birthday concept down. I'm still talking about the ice cream cake and singing "Happy Birthday" from my cousin Bailey's birthday in June, and I like to practice singing "Happy Birthday to Milo" all the time. When I was in Jacksonville, I got to help Uncle John blow out his birthday candles and eat his ice cream cake, which made me so happy, and I've been watching an episode of "Blue's Clues" about Joe's birthday over and over again. When my birthday comes, next week, I am going to be totally prepared!

Today, I'm going on a picnic, but I need to get a nap in before I go if I want to have a good time later, and I think I've at least covered the highlights of the last couple of weeks, so I will sign off for now, but I'll be back with pictures as soon as I can. I promise!

Still Traveling

Checking in to let you know I am still on the road but am having so much fun I haven't had time to stop and blog. I'll write more about Argentina later, but when I arrived in Houston, Mommy and I said bye-bye to Daddy and came to Jacksonville to see my cousin Johnny. Below are some pictures to prove it! I'll write more later, when I've settled down a bit.