Milestone Minutiae

Last week Emmett got a balloon at Trader Joe's, as he often does. It wasn't tied onto the ribbon very well, so even though he didn't let go, the balloon flew away. He wasn't too upset; we talked about it not being attached very well, and that sometimes this happens to balloons. Today at Trader Joe's when we were checking out, Emmett looked at me and said "My head won't ever fly away."

A couple days ago I was roasting some veggies in the oven after Emmett had gone to bed. Of course, a fire alarm started going off. David ran around trying to figure out which one it was, and of course, it was the one in Emmett's room. So David flipped on the light, jumped up and opened the fire alarm, and then jumped up again and grabbed the battery. Emmett didn't even move. A little bit later, the alarm in the hallway went off, but that didn't wake him either.

A few days ago, Emmett was grabbing both of his ears, folding the top part down and the lobes up to meet in the middle. I asked him what he was doing. He said "I'm flapping my ears like a chicken." David swears that this was not a set-up.

"I want to dance with you!"

Emmett occasionally yells in his sleep. Sometimes he's waking up, and sometimes he's not. He's always quite agitated. Here are two recent examples: I don't want you to put it away!!! I don't want you to put it away!!! ... Where is the last cookie??? Where is the last cookie??? ... In a soothing voice, I tell him what he wants to hear (we'll find the cookie, honey, and if we don't we'll make some more), and he usually goes right back to sleep.

It's Girl Scout Cookie time, and Emmett's Great Grandmother brought over a box of Thin Mints. After lunch, I asked Emmett if he would like a cookie and he eagerly said "Yes!" A few moments later, Emmett handed the cookie back to me, saying "This doesn't taste very good." Quite a milestone, really. He's never before turned down dessert.

1. A couple days ago, Emmett crawled under Jenny again. This time, he went the long way, tail to chest. 2. Jake was running outside and yelped as he hit the porch. This happens rarely, but is not unheard of due to the arthritis. Emmett asked what happened, and I told him Jake yelped because his foot hurt. He told me to go outside and kiss Jake's foot. We settled on a blown kiss. 3. At the end of The Cat In The Hat , the mother has returned home and asks the kids what they did while she was out. The last line is "Well, what would you do if your mother asked YOU?" Last night, I finally got an answer out of Emmett. First, I told him to pretend that I was gone, and the Cat in the Hat came to the door. I asked him what he would do. He said "You're here." He's right. The hypothetical in which I'm gone is ridiculous and not worth considering. So I tried again. What if I were taking a nap and the Cat in the Hat came to the door? He said "Wake you up!&q

For background, Dora the Explorer is a popular toddler cartoon, and Emmett has seen a few episodes. We recently got him a sipper-cup with Dora and Boots (her monkey friend) on one side. At lunch today, Emmett said "I miss Dora and Boots." Puzzled, I looked over at him and turned the Dora cup so he could see the image of Dora and Boots. He turned it around again and repeated "I miss Dora and Boots," this time with a grin. He enjoyed this game a few times, until I stopped turning the cup. At that point, he took over my part of the game and turned the cup back himself.

For the winter, Emmett has been wearing cotton pjs under his fleece footed jammies (he refuses to stay under a blanket). Due to the unseasonably warm weather, I've been using the footed jammies alone. Last night, Emmett was sweating while I read him stories before bed. I took off the footed pjs and put on his long sleeve, long pants cotton pjs. Then I wondered aloud where his booties were, so his feet wouldn't get cold. He immediately started asking to wear his sandals. I tried to talk him out of it, explaining that sandals wouldn't keep his feet warm at night, but he insisted. We compromised on socks with sandals, which he happily slept in all night long.

Emmett hasn't been napping well this week. And it's not because he doesn't need it. One night when David got home, he sat down on the couch with Emmett. Emmett got up, turned around, and then threw a fit because daddy was "in his spot." It's a relief, actually, to be so certain that David knows what I sometimes go through. After no nap at all, he still managed to put up a decent fight at bedtime. On Wednesday, I realized that I've actually been sick for a few days. I thought I felt lousy just from the lack of sleep and fights about it. Yesterday, I decided if he's not going to sleep in the afternoon, I might as well run some errands. For two hours I tried to tire him out as we walked around the mall. I took the long way home and he fell asleep in the car. I decided to brave the risk of bringing him in the house. At this point, I was feeling genuine fear. The stakes were high (my sanity). He stirred a little, but put his sweaty head down on my shoulder

Emmett loves playing the guitar with David. He knows the words to several Dylan songs already. Sometimes Emmett strums, sometimes he watches David play. A few days ago, I was working on my computer while David played guitar. I looked up and realized that Emmett had some jingle bells in one hand and an egg shaker in the other. He was dancing around and shaking them -- he was really into it! I managed to get a few spontaneous moments on video before Emmett spotted the camera and came over to dance directly in front of it.

I've mentioned before that Emmett is a bit bossy -- sometimes at playgroup he'll have a fit because he doesn't want some other child on the slide, for example. Saturday, we went to the Oakland Zoo. At the emu enclosure, an emu came right up to the chain-link fence to check us out. We asked Emmett not to put his hands on the fence, because it might be dangerous. Later in the day at the elephant enclosure (that has a large moat between you and the elephants, and a fence between you and the moat), another little boy was touching the fence. Emmett tried to get him to stop touching the fence, grabbing at his hands and pushing them away from the fence. David picked him up so he'd stop bugging the kid, and Emmett threw quite a fit, yelling "stop touching fence." I tried to explain to Emmett that it was safe to touch this fence, but it didn't seem to help. Upon realizing what Emmett was upset about, the other boy's dad came over and thanked Emmett for his &quo

This morning, I told Emmett it was my birthday. I asked him what you say to someone on their birthday, and he sang "Happy Birthday" to me! I had to wait until "Happy birthday to mommy" to be sure because he's been singing "Happy birthday to Noah" ever since we went to Noah's birthday party, but he really sang the whole song to me. Life doesn't get any better than this.

The Hungry Thing has quickly become one of Emmett's favorite books. For the uninitiated, the Hungry Thing is a beastie that asks for shmancakes when he wants pancakes, tickles when he wants pickles, and so on. There's a little boy in the story who says "Shmancakes sound like fancakes sound like pancakes to me!" and so the townspeople know what to feed to the hungry thing. Emmett loves to yell out "Sounds like pancakes to me!" (and others) along with the story. At breakfast, I'll ask Emmett if he wants sneezy legs or groatmeal or thereal for breakfast. He giggles and demands cheesy eggs or oatmeal or cereal. This afternoon, I offered Emmett cheesy pitas for a snack, and he replied "Wheezy pitas!" Word play from a two year old! Later, I asked him if he enjoyed his wheezy pitas. He said "I ate them all up!" (in the book, it always says "and the Hungry Thing ate them all up.")