Mmm, meat

Grafton had steak for the first time on Tue (8/30).  We had a tender cut, and so we thought he could chew it easily.  We cut off a few thin slices for him.  Apparently, he knew exactly what it was, because when we asked him, "would you like to try some steak?" he started chanting "Meat! Meat! Meat!"  He seemed to enjoy it, because he finished the first portion we gave him, and asked for more.

Where's the toothbrush?

We've been trying to teach Grafton to brush his own teeth.  Mostly he just keeps the brush in his mouth and walks around with it.  A few nights ago, he was in the den with his toothbrush, when Mom stepped away for a second.  When she returned, Grafton no longer had the toothbrush, and Mom started looking around on the floor to see where he had dropped it.  Not finding it anywhere in the den, she finally looked back in the bathroom, and as it turned out, Grafton had already placed it back in the cup where we keep it!

Fix It

Grafton's showing some new skills in taking apart and reassembling mechanical objects.  He has a simple wooden car whose rear axle has a wheel that is no longer glued on.  He likes to take the wheel off, pull the axle off the truck, then put it all back together.  When it's apart in pieces he'll agree that we need to "fix it".  More impressive was his ability to take apart and reassemble a tire gauge.  At first, he was just interested in pulling out the PSI measurement "ruler" and pushing it back in.  Then he realized the head of the (cheap!) tire gauge would come off (yes, a definite choking hazard).  But he was able to reinstall it, which made him very happy.  Then he realized that by taking off the head, he could dump out the internal spring and the ruler.  Eventually he was able to reassemble all of the major pieces, sliding the spring back in, then the ruler inside the spring, and finally replaced the head.  Now, the gauge doesn't exactly work anymore, but it was fun to see him figure it all out.  He kept at it for a long time, repeating the steps again and again.  Each time he reassembled the gauge (and the truck) he would get excited and hold up the repaired object with pride.

Funny Phrases

Grafton continues to his improve his language skills, and is talking up a storm. He's beginning to produce fairly complete sentences. For example, while reading his "Sheep in a Jeep" book, he explained to me the full story shown on one of the pages, saying something like "pigs helping sheep pull jeep from mud".  There are times when he'll just go off for a full minute or so, trying to explain to us something that he's seen; sometimes we understand, sometimes we have no idea what he's saying.

He's coming up on some interesting phrases as well:

• Daddy and Grafton went to a park, and I pointed out some shoes that were snagged up on an electrical line.  This really caught his attention, and when we got back home he was describing what he saw to Mom, and told her the shoes were "high as a house"
• While at Jenya's birthday dinner, the babysitter asked him how many hands he had, and he replied "no clue"
• Whenever it's time for a new diaper, he likes to call out "New Dipah!"
• While at Target, we were looking for a xylophone for Grafton, but he found a 10-pc Collector's Edition Matchbox set, and with great excitement he pulled it off the shelf, held it up and demanded, "Buy it!" (he continued to hold it with both hands until we reached the checkout, where we had to convince him that he would get it back after paying for it)
• Also while at Target, we were looking for a stepping stool for Grafton to use in the bathroom.  We found one with 2 steps, and he tried it out. After climbing to the top step, he realized he was rather high up and warned (himself) to "Be careful".  (I guess we say that to him a lot!)
• Yesterday Grafton took notice that Daddy has hair on his legs, and after pulling it a bit told Daddy that he has "dirty legs"

Expensive Taste in Cars

Grafton now has twenty-one Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars. His favorite two are the 2005 Range Rover Sport and 2007 Cadillac Escalade. He likes that the Range Rover has a towing hitch on the back. By the time he's ready to drive, we'll probably be able to afford one of these cars for him--as long as it's one of the above model years!

Pee Pee in the Potty

While at school today, Grafton made his first pee pee in the potty!

Toddler 3

Well, as it turns out, there is currently no Toddler 2 class at Grafton's daycare center.  We realized recently that Grafton is in fact in Toddler 3.

He's doing well in his new class. His teachers tell us that he's well matched with the other kids, and is communicating with them very well, and has a good understanding of what his classmates are doing. They also tell us he has a good sense of humor. He definitely seems happy with his new class, since most days when we drop him off he won't even say goodbye to us, as he gets involved in his activities pretty quickly.