Saturday, April 25, 2009

A Feeding Frenzy

Dominic is pretending to feed his friends (Doggy, Tigger, Pooh, and Elmo).  After putting yummy things in Doggy, Tigger, and Pooh's mouths, Dominic feeds Elmo's eyeballs.  Curious about this, we ask Dominic, "Why are you feeding his eyeballs?"  Instead of answering, he just repeats, "EYEBALLS" then continues with a little litany..."Eyeballs, Jesus, Shh, Quiet, Listen".   

What?  Exactly what we thought.

Well, apparently, "Eyeball" sounds a lot like "Bible" to a two-year-old. And Jesus is in the Bible.  And we learn about Jesus in Church.  In Church we say, "shh,"  "quiet," you need to "listen." So, Eyeballs, Jesus, shh, quiet, listen.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Help! The Hose is Broken

My little "helper" was out with me again. This time, I had promised him that he could help me wash the car. It was a beautiful day, and our van was filthy from winter's salt. After chasing him around and clothing his enthusiasm in a bathing suit, we scamper outside. Then I hook up the hose and cross my fingers that the outside water is turned on because I have no idea where the lever is.

After an hour and a half of Dominic watering the driveway, dirt beds, and an occasional plant, I finish rubbing compound into the last scratch on my now sparkling silver bullet. Our Odyssey is ready to journey in style now. So as to not be the bad guy, I sneak over to the spiget while Dominic is making a big mud puddle and shut off the water, dashing to the van, away from the scene of the crime, before he can catch me.

To my relief, my plan works. He is distraught that the water has stopped, but doesn't suspect me. Through unalloyed sadness and tears, with the cutest pout you've ever seen, he holds the hose up to eye level and stares down the barrel of it. "Stuuckk!" he wails. "Broookenn, " he sniffs very loudly. Then, while still staring into it, he tries to fix it. With both of his chubby hands on the hose he determinedly announces, "Squeeeeze." When that fails, however, he holds the hose rather disinterestedly in one hand and says, rather conclusively, "battery." That is, quite obviously, it needs a new battery. After all, it's broken.

NB: According to Dominic, burnt out light bulbs are "broken" and need "battery".

Sunday, April 19, 2009

You Tube Channel

I just put up several new videos of the kids.  Highlights are Cate licking Dominic's arm, Dominic 's "mm, mm, mm...delicious", Cate jumping and talking, and Dominic dancing.  I don't really have the time (or patience!) to make them into a snazzy video, so I just uploaded the best to You Tube and you can enjoy the little clips at your leisure.    If you want to be notified when I put new ones up, just subscribe to my channel.  Either way, you can find the new ones by clicking the blue link . 



Friday, April 3, 2009

Mischief, Thy Name is Dominic

A disclaimer before we begin: We love Cate, and she gets attention too; she just doesn't do anything mischievous--well, yet.

Story #1:
Matt's glasses have been missing for two months.  As many of you know, this isn't really a surprising event in our household.  He put off looking for them for a few weeks, figuring they would just turn up somewhere.  By the time he actually became concerned that they were really lost instead of just kind of lost, he, of course, could not remember when he had last had them, where he had been, and, arguably, what exactly they looked like (fortunately, we had a similar episode in South Bend, where he thought he lost them because the glasses he saw didn't look like his...in the end,  however, they did turn out to be his.  Was that stripe on the inside always there?).   

After a month or two of "looking," Daddy thought to ask Dominic, "Do you know where my glasses are?" Dominic smartly answers, "Nope."  But then he immediately begins to look for them.  He peers under the table, "Nope," he says, then he peeks under the piano, "Nope," again, and then he flings open the closet door, pokes his little head in and decidedly says, "Nope...there" (translation: nope, not there).  

Story #2
Dominic likes to try to call Daddy, "Matthew" and has been doing so for weeks, to our chagrin. Recently, however, Dominic has figured out that Mama = Donna. When she's in her room getting ready, he stands at the locked door and cries out, "Mama, Mama, Mama" each with different, varyingly pathetic, intonations. When that fails, he switches to "Donn-u" like a doorbell, then "Don-UU", up on the end, then "DONN-UU", when he gets really desperate. It is hilarious, although I try not to let him know that I hear him doing this... Our tactic is to only respond to the "proper" name, i.e. Daddy, Mommy, Mama, or Papa. He has also been known to yell for "Hon-eee" when he wants someone.

Story #3
Dominic has taken to including his "friends" in his various activities.  This exclusive club includes his stuffed animals Doggy, Pooh, Tigger, and Elmo. He puts them in the chair and "reads" to them, gives them to Cate when she's crying, pretends to feed them snacks, and, of course, takes them all to bed.  

Yesterday, we had some visitors.  Dominic warmed up to them very quickly and was eager to show off his friends.  He made three trips from his play area to the living room.  First, Doggy and Pooh.  Then, Tigger and Elmo.  Thinking he had all his friends, I was surprised when he made a third trip back to the play area.  He gets his little photo album of absent friends and family and runs to put it in the pile with all his other friends.  "Friends," he says, and starts to put all five on our visitors laps.