Winter's not so bad!

Sledding!
Originally uploaded by enwudz

I've had such a busy and fun weekend! On Friday we drove up to New Hampshire to see my cousins Noel and Johanna and Lila and Alexander. They're all my cousins to such-and-such degree or so-and-so removal; it's hard to keep track sometimes. But what I do know is that they're all super fun. We stayed over on Friday night, and then on Saturday we played out in the snow and inside too. Lila showed me their nifty tree-house-in-the-snow, and Alexander kindly shared his legos and train table trains. I really miss having them all live just up the road in Arlington, but I'm glad they're still pretty close by. Then some of the neighbors came over (they're all very nice and neighborly up there in the Nubanusit co-housing community) and looked after us kids while Mom and Dad went out snowshoeing with Noel and Johanna.

Then today we went to the big hill park in Arlington for some sledding. I love the big hill! I've been practicing going by myself, and today I started all the way at the top of the hill and went so FAST. I told Mom and Dad that I went "ZOOM" and "This is so much FUN!". Hooray for Winter (at least when the weather's nice).

In other news, I am still in love with letters. I know all of the sounds they make, and I'm even learning some of the tricky sounds like "ch!" and "sh!" and "th!". Also, I've been studying up on how letters come together to make words ... it's pretty magical and I love it all. I've also become really good at choosing CDs and playing them myself on my little CD player or in the big stereo CD player too (when Mom and Dad let me). I'm especially fond of my Brazilian CDs lately ... "Samba CD!" And one last bit of big news tonight .... we had a potty success! Hoooray! Everybody was very happy, especially me.

All in all, it's fun being almost three.

New Videos!

Hi out there! Mama has been working hard to edit down some of the video footage over the last year or so. Check out one of the videos (above), or head over to our youtube site to see more.

It's wintery winter here ... Dad is getting kinda tired of shoveling the driveway and stuff. Also, he hasn't been too successful in convincing me to go outside to play in the snow. I love playing outside at school, but I guess it's hard to beat playing inside the house, especially since I'm still enjoying all of my Christmas loot.

In other news, my diet these days consists of pretty much nothing else but breakfast cereal and blueberries. Hopefully someday I'll return to my more omnivorous habits. Until then, we're thankful for Flintstones vitamins ....

See you soon!

Happy New Year!

By Popular Demand . . . .
Originally uploaded by enwudz

Sorry I've been away from this blog so long ... so much has been happening! And now that it's been months and months already there's no way I'll be able to talk about everything that's been going on.

I'm such a big kid now - probably the biggest change is that I've been going to school a bunch ... and loving it! I really like to visit with my new school friends every day, and to see what is in the touch table, and to learn new songs to sing, and to read books, and to play outside. I was kind of worried at first because I'd never really hung out with a bunch of other kids before, away from home, and without mama and dada nearby, but ever since the first day I've really had a great time. My favorite part might be all of the new songs I've learned - they're all seasonally appropriate, like the funny "Five Little Pumpkins" song that I learned in October. That song cracks me up every time I sing it!

Speaking of singing, Grandma Vitale got a nifty video for me that is all about letters ... I LOVE letters!! Each letter has a little song, so in no time at all I learned all of the letter sounds. The V says vvvvvvv!!! Pretty soon I'll be able to read all by myself. Hop on Pop, here I come!

Another thing that I really love is planet earth. Grandma Roberts and Grandpa Menzel got me a little globe for Christmas - I was so excited to get it that I shouted, "I LOVE this PLANET EARTH!!". In fact, I love all of the planets ... I used to be able to say all of their names, in order, but I haven't been practicing that lately ...

I got all sorts of fun loot for Christmas, but the best part was seeing all of my fun family. One of the biggest hits was pair of snowglobe-type things with a dancing snowman and a reindeer inside. I had a blast showing all of my aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents how well I could tapdance and jump around - so much fun!

Anyhow, Mom is making a video of all of my latest tricks, so watch this space closely - hopefully we'll post it soon! In any case, I promise I won't take so long to post again. See you all soon!

Big Kid

Star Sheets
Originally uploaded by enwudz

At the sprinkler park the other morning, we suddenly noticed that I was the biggest kid there. Everyone else was in the under-2 crowd, and I looked huge next to them. I used to always be the littlest one wherever we went. My feet seem to have grown a size bigger in the last 2 weeks too. My sandals are suddenly too small.

Since I'm getting so big, I'm no longer sleeping in my little crib. I LOVE my new bed. It was exciting but unsettling the first night, and I woke up crying a few times, but the next night I slept like a baby. I mean, like a big kid in a big kid bed. It's fun to sit and bounce on, and I enjoy laying my head down on the bed and hitting the mattress hard with my hand, because it makes a loud echo sound right in my ear that cracks me up. How do you like my new star sheets? Don't I have good taste? They match my fuzzy blue star blanket that I like to chew and drool on.

Mom and Dad have been telling me that in just a few weeks, I'll be big enough to go to preschool. They say that I'll make new friends there and play and paint and read books and sing songs and learn new things. We got a picture of my teachers in the mail that I look at every day. They look nice. I hope they know that I don't like going down slides and I like my sandwiches cut in pieces and I don't know how to use a straw yet and stuff. So, yeah, I'm a little nervous. I'm getting big, but I'm still just a little guy.

Summer Vacation

Swimmin' Croz
Originally uploaded by enwudz

I loved the springtime, but so far, summer is even better because I get to go SWIMMING! I go swimming in the reservoir beach in town, splashing at the sprinkler park, and we just came back from vacation in NJ, where we had a whole week full of swimming in the pool, at the beach, and at the waterslide park. We've gone through 2 bottles of sunscreen in one month.

We should go on vacation more often. We got to see grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and cousins, and I was the only toddler running around so I got LOTS of attention from everyone. And we went to a big party for Uncle Johnny's graduation from high school that was lots of fun too.

It's a long drive to New Jersey, and I can't fall asleep in the car the way I used to. I stayed up the entire time, until 1:00 AM, watching the headlights go by. On the way back home, I passed the time by calling out song requests from the back seat... "Squirrel Song! Jumpin' Josie song!" But Mom and Dad were getting tired of all those kiddie songs, so they switched to a grownup CD, but we never actually made it past Track 1. That's because Track 1 immediately became my new favorite. It was a Bach song played by Yo Yo Ma, but I just call it the "Cello Song". I asked to hear it at least 20 times in a row. Mom and Dad tried to skip to the other tracks, but they couldn't fool me. It's different than any other song I've ever heard. Since that road trip, I now request it every time we get in the car... "Cello song again!"

I gave Zipper lots of big hugs when we got back home from vacation. I missed him and I could tell he missed me too.

Besides swimming and cellos and cats, other recent favorite things include going on bike rides in my new seat that fits on Dad's bike, looking at all the plants in the backyard, painting pictures, playing with my lacing beads and sticker books and Mr. Potato Head, climbing ladders, and pretending to cook cookies in a saucepan. Yum.

Sproing! It's Spring!

holding down the fort
Originally uploaded by enwudz

I've been enjoying the springtime so much that I've let over 2 months pass since my last update. I've been learning about robins and tulips and inchworms and dandelions. I get to run around the park, throw rocks in the pond, and play in the back yard with Scooter and all our trucks and balls, which we also like to send rolling down our steep driveway over and over again.

My love for garbage cans continues to blossom. Some days, when Dad asks me what I did during the day, the first thing I'll tell him is "Park... garbage can!" My favorite garbage can is one that sits at the top of a big hill that overlooks Boston. I specifically request to go to the "climb the hill garbage can park". And don't get me started about Oscar the Grouch. He lives in a garbage can, you know.

My current favorite books include "Oscar's Grouchy Sounds", "Curious George Goes to School", and "Cat in the Hat Comes Back" (that's a long one, but I listen to the whole thing).

I'm very good at singing the whole ABC song now, although the very end of it is a little improvised still ("Nowwa no ba ABCs..."). And I like announcing the numbers and letters that I see on signs when we're out and about. Like if we get in the fifth checkout line at the grocery store, I'll shout out "Number 5!"

People who know me well say that I've really come out of my shell since I've turned two. I guess that's true. I've gotten more social and brave and talkative and outgoing. So come over and play sometime!

Hoooray! I'm 2!

Hoooray! I'm 2!
Originally uploaded by enwudz

And I had TWO birthday parties and TWO birthday cakes. I guess that means next year I'll have three parties, right? I've become a real party guy lately. It was a blast having Grandpa Menzel and Uncle Greg visit-- we played basketball, played with my new toys, ran in circles around the house, and did a lot of laughing together. And I had so much fun when 11 more relatives came this weekend to celebrate-- Grandma Vitale, Papa John, Uncle Johnny, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Renee, Uncle Herb, and all my cousins... they all love to clap and cheer and chase me around.

I've changed a lot in the past two months. I've become a real talker, and can put together some pretty nice sentences and use words like "too"... "Mama eat a sandwich TOO!" I can sing a bunch of songs, and I like making up new verses, like "Crosby wore gray socks, gray socks, gray socks. Crosby wore grays socks all day long."

I like imitating my Sesame Street alphabet toy, which always says "THAT'S the letter A (or B or C...)!" I even made up a funny joke where I say, "THAT'S the letter PUFFERFISH!" (and then Mom or Dad says, "PUFFERFISH?? That's not a letter!!") and I think it's so funny that I tell the joke 10 more times.

And then at bedtime, when it's time to say goodnight to Mom, I instead say goodnight to everything else in the room. "Goodnight, Zipper! Goodnight marble track! Goodnight Legos! Goodnight blue ball.." And when Dad comes home, I greet him by saying, "Hi Dude!" instead of "Hi Dada". I crack myself up.