Six Legs Walking

We took Grafton for a walk this evening, after the weather cooled off. He had eaten a healthy portion of his dinner and seemed full of energy, and we thought he might be willing to do most of this walk on his own.  With stroller and backpack left behind in the trunk of the RAV4, we headed out for our regular Mount Holyoke College lower lake loop walk.  Grafton did great!  He stayed focused on the path ahead and ran and walked ahead of us and along side us.  We stopped to watch a pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee, but before long he was back to walking.  He crossed over the lower lake dam bridge on his own, and kept up a brisk pace along the east side of the lake.  A pair of young ladies were out jogging, and he pointed out to us that they were in fact "running!"  He ran alongside for a couple of seconds, but couldn't keep up.  Before long we were around the lake.  Grafton stopped for a bit to play in a gazebo, and while normally he would get interminably side tracked by such an activity, he soon decided that walking was more important.  We saw a couple of bunnies near the shore, and Grafton's quick approach made them dart away into the bushes.  He found that rather amusing.  Passing by a bike rack, he paused to make a loop around it, and checked out the left-behind bike chains.  But then, back to walking!  Over the bridge (parents carefully flanking on him on the sides), across the street (parents holding his hands, and explaining how to look for cars), and onto the gardens.  It took a little coaxing to convince him the gardens were worthwhile, but he soon agreed and set off for the destination with unwavering speed.  We looped through the paths of the garden, took a quick rest on a bench, and them more walking.  Grafton then climbed the full staircase (about 2 flights), hands free, right leg leading the way up each step.  He was huffing and puffing and even told us it was hard, but he never gave up.  Some more hand holding as we crossed another street (and another parental explanation of how to look out for cars), and then back into the grassy fields for...more running.  Another bicycle rack was nearby and he passed back and forth through its U-shaped profile.  After collecting and passing out some acorns to his parents, Grafton was back on the move.  Running down the hill to quad, we approached the large field in the middle. As we neared another bicycle rack, and we asked him this time how many bicycles there were, and he correctly reported the number "thwee".  Thinking it might be a fluke, and seeing three Adirondack chairs nearby, we asked him how many again, and "thwee" once again was his reply.  We decided to sit down for a rest in the chairs.  He enjoyed sliding back in the deep, sloped bottom of the Adirondack chair, and didn't even seem to mind smacking his head against the back rest once.  Soon, a small army of kids from a sports (?) camp entered the field and soon began sitting down around our chairs.  They were perhaps 8-10 years old.  Grafton was intrigued.  He watched as they gathered and kept his eye on a ball they were kicking around.  Eventually one of the kids decided to lay down on his back to rest, and Grafton pointed out that he was sleeping.  Grafton, who was probably tired from all the walking, mimicked the "sleeping" kid and laid down on the grass, looking up at the sky.  From his reclined position, he decided to start "exercising" (his words) and began lifting his legs, left first, then right, and so on.  The kids were beginning to watch him, thinking his antics were amusing.  Grafton must have noticed the growing audience, because he then turned over and performed a downward dog yoga move, looking at his audience upside down through his legs.  This achieved a positive reaction from the kids, and so he continued the show by moving to a modified downward dog pose with his left leg up in the air.  Then his right.  Back and forth.  The kids were now laughing and applauding our little guy.  We asked him if we was doing yoga and he confirmed the fact by repeating the word for everyone to hear.  Kids started asking him for high-fives, and he withdrew at this point, feeling pangs of shyness.  But after some more yoga moves, he felt renewed confidence and gave out a few high-fives.  It was already well past his bed time, but we couldn't get him to leave on his own volition.  We tried walking away about 50 feet, but he was fully content to remain where he was and even bid us a goodbye or two.  Eventually, we convinced him to leave and he said goodbye to the kids.  We carried him a bit at this point to try to get home soon, but he still had energy left to walk and run on his own, and so we let him.  Fortunately, we averted an almost certain visit to the emergency room, as Grafton was running down a hill toward a stone staircase.  Andrew saw the impending danger, worrying that Grafton might trip before reaching the staircase, and so ran over to intercept him.  And trip he did--he went flying head first toward the staircase!  Fortunately, Andrew caught Grafton's head with his hand just before impact.  Phew.  We carried him the rest of the way back.  We all look forward to our next walk together.

Miscellany, 7/26

• Likes to recite, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"  For full effect, he points his finger while reciting this.  He often repeats this spontaneously while in his car seat.
• Mama was singing to Grafton the song "The wheels on the bus go round & round".  Mom got to the 3rd verse and realized she forgot the words.  Grafton reminded Mom that the 3rd verse went "beep beep beep".
• Staying at a hotel in Rutland, VT, Mom and Grafton walked out to the parking lot to go for a drive, after Dad left for a bike ride.  Unbeknownst to Mom, Dad had moved the car overnight to a new spot.  So Mom walked up to someone else's RAV4 that was parked near the original spot, but this RAV4 was blue.  The key fob didn't unlock the car, which confused Mom, but Grafton was already pulling and pointing Mom in the right direction, towards Dad's car, and saying "Daddy's car".
• Likes to sing the line "London bridge is falling down" & "my fair lady". 
• He has figured out how to use mini lies to get out of doing things he doesn't care to do.  For example, when he didn't want to be in his high chair he complained, "too tight" (it wasn't).  When he didn't want to eat zucchini bread, he said it was "hot" (it wasn't), knowing that he doesn't have to eat food that is too hot.
• Likes to push shopping carts, pushing from behind on one side (Daddy will help guide the cart, of course).  He also likes to push his own stroller; making people laugh when they see the stroller coming toward them, and can't see Grafton behind it.
• He ran into a display at a grocery store, while pushing a shopping cart.  He realized he had done something wrong, and said "sorry" in a very apologetic manner.
• Loved playing in the 4-person tent that Daddy set up in the back yard.  Looked forward to going inside every day after school for the first week.  He would run around inside, and jump all over Daddy.  He also like to have Daddy zip and unzip the cloth windows.

Signs of Learning

A few notable Grafton moments, showing the little pieces of the world he's been paying attention to:

• He practically memorized his "Charlie Parked Played Be Bop" book.  We could turn the page and he'd recite the next page's text (a single line).
• He's getting better at his ABC's.  Knows many intermediate letters, which he will call out if you pause (as of a couple of weeks ago). P and Z are his strongest letters right now.  D is problematic. A, B, and C are no problem.
• We were showing Grafton a picture of a pony in a coloring book, and then he pointed to back of daddy's head and said "pony tail".
• We were looking at his friend Joe's birthday photos, and at the very first photo showing a balloon, Grafton starts singing "Happy Birthday to You" all on his own (Jun 17).

Grafton is still not yet there learning the meaning of "you" and "me", since he continues to say "hold you" when he wants us to hold him.  He puts his arms up, stares longingly, and says "hold you".  We correct him, and repeats the corrected request "hold me", but reverts back to his own version the next time around.

Runny nose

Grafton has a runny nose today.  But he was still in good spirits this morning.

Burrito Surprise

We stopped in to Mesa Verde last night for a quick bite (after bidding farewell to Currie, Carlos, and Augustus).  Neva and Grafton ordered a burrito, to share, but we had to feed Grafton some jarred food and apple sauce while we were waiting, since he was so hungry.  Once the burrito had arrived, he was no longer hungry (apparently), and refused our attempts at feeding him the beans, rice, tomatoes, and chicken.  But something finally clicked in his head, and he became very interested in the contents of the mashed up burrito.  Instantly, he grabbed a huge piece of chicken, shoved it in his mouth, and kept at it, chewing and chewing.  We thought for sure he'd simply spit it out and give up.  But as the half-chewed pieces fell out of his mouth, he shoved them back in, and finished the whole piece. Before long, he was sampling the beans, and even the tomatoes, which he's always refused (along with just about every vegetable).  At one point, he became interested in the tortilla, and finding a piece that was too large to eat, he began using his spoon to cut it in half.  This was the first time we've witnessed him trying to use a utensil to dice up his food.  All in all, we very impressed with his interest in the burrito and his resolve to ingest it. When he was very young, he never questioned eating anything, but has become much pickier in the past months, but this meal represented something of a turnaround in his food interests.  Perhaps he's acquired renewed confidence in eating different foods now that some new molar and canine teeth are on their way in.

No pants!

As Grafton approaches his 20 month birthday, he's increasingly demonstrating his ability to object to routine requests.  These days, every attempt at dressing him with pants or shorts is met with a cry of "NO PANTS!" and endless wriggling to avoid wearing them. We're not sure what triggered this behavior, though it may be related to his enjoyment of running around naked after bath time.  Occasionally the scope of this phenomenon broadens to include his diaper as well (and he can just about it pull it off himself now, if he's so inclined).  At meal time, the bib becomes the object of his objections, and even if we get it on, he's quick to pull it off immediately after he declares "done eating".

Fortunately, Grafton's recent ornery behavior is balanced by some very cute, endearing, and agreeable activities.  When he's in a receptive mood, and we're explaining something to him, he'll often indicate his understanding or agreement with a high-octave, drawn out "yeaaah".  When he's in an energetic mood, he loves to run endlessly (inside or outside), proclaiming "I'm running!" with every lap he makes around us.  And of course he loves to point out that he's wearing "running shoes".  When it's too hot to be running outside, Grafton enjoys taking it easy on the back deck making bubbles.  He's taught himself how to dip the bubble wand into the liquid, pull it out, and wave it around to make bubbles.  Grafton also still loves music, and knows how to ask for what he wants to listen to, such as "Cow CD" and "Jazz Fly".

But maybe we should stop playing this song for him.

Broken PSU

On Sunday morning, Grafton and I were browsing through the huge number of pictures that were taken at the Mason-Wehby Send Off party. With Grafton in my lap, we were quickly flipping through the images, when all of a sudden the screen goes blank and the computer's fans and hard drive spin down, leaving nothing but silence in the room.  I told Grafton that I thought the computer had broken, and he definitely understood, because he kept pointing at the screen, repeating "broken" and even "fix it" and "turn on".  After trying the obvious fixes, I explained it wasn't going to come back on (the power supply unit had apparently died).  He was sad (and so was Dad), but we both took it in stride, and instead got ready to go to Otis...

Oui

With Grafton's Granddad and Baba at our house, we were all listening to a "Learn French" CD while eating dinner.  He seemed really interested in it, and was even trying to repeat the French phrases he was hearing (some quite well!). Just for fun, we started to ask him some questions, using some of the French words.  But after one particular question he so loudly, clearly, and unmistakably blurted out "Oui!" that it equally surprised all four of the adults in the room.  We sat there for a minute discussing how he could have possibly known to say this, or whether we simply misheard him.  We're all quite sure that the CD itself did not repeat this particular affirmative French word. It's still a mystery.  I have, however, in the past, spoke a few French words to him, but it was so long ago, it's hard to believe he would have remembered.

A couple other language related observations of late:  While watching Wimbledon, he explained to his parents what we were watching by saying "tennis, tennis, ball, tennis ball".  The same day, I think, he picked up my wallet that was laying on the coffee table, knew what is was and said "wallet", followed by "money".  (He proceeded to empty out the contents.)  We had fun teaching him silly phrases like "going shopping" and "charge it", which he was able to repeat, and made us all laugh.