Toddler 2

Grafton started in his new daycare class today, Toddler 2.  As usual, he settled in to his new environment without a complaint.  He seemed happy to be back with Rachel, his first teacher from Toddler 1 (prior to the summer semester), and Tina, another teacher he's spent time with in the past.  He's also back with his friend, Joe.

Pizza's Ready

We made a pizza tonight and set a timer to tell us when it's done.  All of us were sitting in the den when the timer went off, and Grafton yelled out "Pizza's ready!"

Car Crazy

Grafton is big into cars these days.  We bought him two used play cars for driving around outside (one of the cars is just the like the one Nana & PopPop have for him at their house).  He loves playing in these cars, and still enjoys playing the role of pizza delivery man.   He's also very insistent on parking his cars when he's done playing.  Grafton also loves playing with his Hot Wheels cars inside, lining them up, rolling them around, and even crashing them together.  And when he gets the chance, he loves to play inside Mama's and Daddy's real cars, when they're parked in the garage.  And he continues to call out "car!", "Jeep!", and "big truck!" when he sees these vehicles on the road.  Basically, Grafton loves vehicles of all kinds.  He had a few funny car-related moments last Tuesday...

While in the garage, we popped the hoods on our real cars and showed Grafton the cars' engines. We tried to explain to him how the turning engine turned the wheels, and while he listened intently, we're not sure we entirely communicated the idea to the him.  But we're pretty sure he understood that a car has an engine.  Later that day, Neva asked him to show her where his play car's engine was located and he was able to show her where it is, pointing at the front of the car.  Later, Dad asked him again, and asked Grafton to look underneath the car, and he bent down to look for the engine under the car.  (Grafton apparently understands the of "underneath", which impressed us.)

After showing him the engines, Daddy decided to check the tire pressure on his cars, with Grafton looking on.  Of course, as soon as Daddy obtained his tire pressure gauge, Grafton coveted it, and didn't let up until he was in possession of the tool.  Somehow Grafton knew what to do with it, because he immediately proceeded to hold it up against the tire valve on the front left tire of Mama's car.  (I hadn't showed him how to use it yet, at least not that day--maybe a couple months ago?  Maybe he saw similarities between the bicycle tire pump he plays with?).  After that, Grafton refused to relinquish control of the gauge, and then "checked" one of the tires on Daddy's car.  Fortunately, Daddy has 4 tire gauges and was able to keep Grafton happy by giving him a few others to play with.  Returning to the task at hand, Daddy proceeded to remove valve caps and check tire pressures.  Grafton was very interested, watched intently, and followed me around for all eight tires, all the while carrying his own gauges with him.  Later, when Mama came outside to see us, unprompted, Grafton showed her what had learned by running over to his play car and "checked" the pressure, holding the gauge against the little plastic wheel!  We asked him how the pressure looked on his tires and said "14".  We were both surprised that he knew the question required a numeric answer.  (He seems to understand numeric questions in other cases, and often responds with "3" or "14".  E.g, on 8/20 he also responded "14" we asked him how much he weighs after stepping off of our bathroom scale.)

Finally, Daddy checked the oil in his car's engines.  To keep Grafton entertained we placed him in the driver's seat of Mama's car, while Mama watched him.  While Daddy was under the hood, Grafton proceeded to close the garage door, after finding the remote garage door opener in the center console of the car, and also turned on the radio by himself.

Next week, I think we'll head over to MA RMV to pick up his learner's permit.

D**m it

We don't curse much around Grafton, but when something goes wrong we apparently say "damn it" a bit too much. Grafton heard us say this again, this morning, after we saw that he spilled some applesauce on his clean pants. He proceeded to repeat the phrase again and again. We quickly taught him to say "shucks" instead, which he thankfully started repeating. We'd better watch our tongues more carefully now--he's picking up on everything we say these days.

Movin' on up

It's official. Grafton will be moving up to the Toddler 2 class starting next Wednesday. It should provide a better fit for him, since he'll again be with toddlers that are closer to him developmentally, and with more age-appropriate activities. He'll also be back with his some of his old friends and teachers that were with him last semester while in Toddler 1 (Joe, Gabbi, et.al.). No doubt Grafton will miss his current friends and teachers (Mitch and Greyson), but change is good, even if it's a little hard at first.

Grafton Hold You

This past weekend, Grafton and Dad headed up to the office together and found Mazzy resting on the bed. Mazzy was clearly feeling lazy, because she usually bolts before Grafton can make visual contact. Seeing Mazzy in front of him for once, Grafton said to Mazzy, "Grafton hold you." This was the first time we've heard Grafton refer to himself in a sentence. (Clearly Mazzy understood this request, because she immediately flew off the bed to find a safer location.)

Teaching Bad Habits

On Saturday, we were eating dinner outside on our back deck. Grafton, who has been recently enamored with the "Cowboy Small" book at daycare, has been repeating the one part he finds the funniest, "kerplunk!" (when the cowboy falls off the horse). So, for fun, Dad took a sweet potato fry, dropped in on Grafton's plate, and said "kerplunk!"  Well that was it. Grafton assumed he had been given the green light to take any piece of food off his plate and throw it back down while reciting his favorite line. Needless to say, this went on for some time, all the while with Mom gazing back at Dad with a (deserved) look of dissatisfaction. Dad learned an important lesson that evening.

To Grafton's credit, he ate his entire meal, and them some. He wolfed down 1/2 of a large turkey burger with cheese, countless fries, a separate slice of cheese, and half of our side dish of peas. We kept kerplunking...err, placing...food down on his plate, and he shoved each piece in his mouth without hesitation. We've never seem him so hungry!

Hiking in Wendell State Forest

On Sunday, we took Grafton to Wendell State Forest for a picnic and then a hike around Ruggles Pond.  Grafton hiked by himself for about half of the distance.  He proved adept at navigating the roots and rocks, and so I think we'll be increasing the level of difficulty the next time out!

Nobody & Too Much

A couple new phrases from Grafton...

• When arriving at an empty classroom in the morning, Grafton likes to explain, "nobody here"
• Yesterday, during a walk on the MHC campus, we pointed out the dark forest next to the path, to which he responded "nobody in the woods"
• Today, for the first time, he started using the phrase "too much"

What's your name?

As of yesterday, he can provide the correct answer to this most important question.  I'd say he pronounces it more like "Gafton".  He can also tell his parents what their names are, when asked (i.e., "Neva" and "Andrew"). It's very cute.  Interestingly, he's been able to tell us his teachers' and friends' names for quite some time now.

Runaway

In the words of his teacher Mitch, Grafton has been starting to "test his limits".  To our chagrin, we've also been witness to this behavioral shift.  Honestly, it's not been all that bad, as he only acts up on days when he has a sleep deficit.  But today was one such day.  On this day, Grafton spent considerable time refining his techniques for ignoring parental questions and requests.  He worked on how to feign interest in any nearby inanimate object when something is asked of him, appearing completely entranced by the object while he studies its finest details.  Grafton also practiced his "I was heading somewhere important before you started talking to me" technique, in which he slyly meanders away towards a distant destination that clearly is more important and more interesting than any trifling talk that might be emanating from his parents lips.  All of this we can take in stride, and sometimes we even get a little, hidden chuckle out of watching his antics be put to use.

But then he went too far.  It was about 6pm in the evening, and Dad was gathering together all the trash for the next day's curbside pickup.  Mom was outside with Grafton, and he was enjoying himself while pushing around an empty cooler-on-wheels at the top of the driveway.  When Dad came outside with the recycling, he saw that Grafton was starting to head down the driveway and asked him to turn around.  In an instant, Grafton dropped the cooler to the ground, and started running full-stride, downhill toward the street.  Busy with the trash, Dad called out to Mom, "you'd better go get him!"  She started down after him.  Usually Grafton will run a short distance and then stop, just to see if he's caught anyone's attention.  But not this time.  He started running faster as he heard Mom's sandals flip-flopping behind him!  Mom was slowly closing the gap between her and Grafton--but not quickly enough!  Realizing he might actually reach the street before catching him, she starts to yell wildly at him to stop, but I think this only spurred on his escape.  Dad, who was originally convinced that Mom was going make the catch halfway down the 150' driveway, stood helpless as he watched the pursuit unfold in slow motion.  Feet before the driveway ended, Mom was able to snag the little sprinter, who was given a proper scolding, and then brought inside for a lengthy timeout.  We were both in a little shock at how quickly this dangerous situation unfolded, and then how fortunate we all were that it ended without incident.  Perhaps we'll start our search again for a new home, preferably one located at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Clear Lungs

We brought Grafton to his pulmonologist today for his third follow-up check up, since his hospitalization.  His lungs sounded clear and the doctor agreed that his health looked good.  His oxygen saturation measured 100%.  The doctor explained that in order to test the theory that his asthma-like symptoms were caused by an ibuprofen allergy, we'll have to subject him to the medicine while under medical care, as they watch for recurrent symptoms.  We're not thrilled about doing this, but it will good to know whether he needs to avoid ibuprofen.

Miscellany, 8/9

• On Sunday, while eating dinner at Nana & PopPop's, one of the side dishes was fresh peas from a local garden.  Grafton liked the peas so much, he requested, "More peas please!" (they really were sweet and delicious).
• Grafton spent hours this past weekend playing in a toy car, pushing it around, and getting in and out more times than anyone would care to count. He had fun pretending to be a pizza delivery driver, bringing make-believe pizza to anyone that asked for it.  PopPop paid him once with a piece of paper and asked for change; later on Grafton remembered this and gave Nana change after making a delivery.
• Recently, at night when Grafton wakes and wants someone to check on him, instead of crying, he simply repeats, "Mommy and Daddy coming soon", "Mommy coming soon", or "Daddy coming soon".  Later the same night he requested, "Blanket on".
• He counted to 8, while reviewing the 10 instruments shown in his "Zin Zin Zin, A Violin" book.
• He can recite letters A through G in order.
• Reading his "My Car" book with Mom, he could tell us what  the last word of each sentence is on each of the first few pages, including "my car", "clean", "oil", "gasoline", "wheels", and "rain" (wipers).  Interestingly, he told us "signs", but one page too early, so he's clearly memorizing and recalling parts of this book.  When asked who the character was (Sam), he said "boy" and then "Grafton", when asked the character's name.  This is one of the first times he used his name without being prompted.
• In the tub, Grafton was playing with a new boat, which came with a small fish, but which was missing.  He remembered it was "outside" on the back deck and asked Mama to retrieve it.
• Capable of completing his peg puzzles now, matching up the pieces and rotating them as necessary.
• Enjoyed playing with a long piece of cardboard, with upturned ends, standing on it and jumping up and down.  Mama asked him if it was a skateboard, and he said yes.

See also, "Miscellany, 7/26"

The Be Bop Link

Now we know why Grafton loves his "Charlie Parker Played Be Bop" book so much!  According to Wikipedia, "The most notable player of a Grafton saxophone was Charlie Parker"
[research provided by ntolopko]

Mine

Having just returned from food shopping, we were all sitting down in the living room enjoying a bowl of blueberries together. Grafton's a big fan of blueberries, but he was willing to share the snack with his parents. He even went so far as to grab a handful out his Daddy's hand and brought them over to his Mama, who was laying down on the couch. We told him, "That was so sweet to bring Mama blueberries!" and he clearly understood because he went back to the bowl to do it again. After grabbing another handful, he started walking slowly over to Mama, but by the time he arrived all the blueberries had been consumed (we'll probably have to discourage him from getting into the pizza delivery business). He returned to the bowl to eat some more himself, and now he started cramming more into his mouth with each handful. Daddy had been enjoying the blueberries as well, and so far Grafton seemed to enjoy sharing the afternoon treat. But the bowl was getting low. Seeing the bottom of the bowl growing larger, Grafton's willingness to share evaporated, and when Daddy went reaching for one more berry, Grafton declared "Mine!" (muffled somewhat by a mouthful of blueberries). This was the first time we heard him lay claim to property. Daddy reached again for another tasty berry, and Grafton again protected the dwindling supply with a much clearer "Mine!" I asked him if Daddy could have a blueberry, and he blurted out a clear and definitive "No!" I then asked if Mama could have a blueberry. Again, "No!" We let him finish the bowl. We'll teach him the virtues of sharing another time.