Polite.

Rand has started saying "Bless you!" to himself when he coughs.

He also thanks himself and says "You're welcome" to himself on a regular basis.

In other news, he has figured out how to open the front gate by standing waaaay up on his tippy toes. I was thankful that he wasn't tall enough to unlock it so he couldn't escape. Then this morning I came out and he had pushed his little chair over to the gate and was standing on it fiddling with the lock. Phooey!

Rub the Back

Rand has started liberally using the word "the." He sprinkles it like rain over every phrase: "sit on the lap," "rub the back," and "help the Rand."

He has also started yelling at the neighbors' dogs to "Hush!" if he hears them barking. He is quite the little policeman.

Rand is turning into a giant bruise. How do little kids manage to hurt themselves so often and not complain?

Finally, Rand is scared of one of the bushes outside of our yard. I don't know why. Markita, could you please pass on to Mary that I think of her every time we go outside and Rand says, "Scared of Bush!"

"Scarded Me!"

Last weekend we were at Costco. I was in the checkout line and Rand was running (because that was he does -- he never ever walks anymore) around with Werner. He turned a corner and ran straight into a lifesize animatronic witch who was cackling and moving her head around. He. Freaked. Out.

Rand turned on a dime and ran as fast as he could the other direction. Werner caught him and the poor kid was clinging to him for dear life. I thought that Rand was going to climb up on top of his head. Werner could have let go with both hands without Rand falling off. They walked over to me and Rand practically jumped into my arms. He buried his head into me and said, "Scarded me!" Werner and I -- along with everybody else in our checkout line -- were nearly falling over, we were laughing so hard. I did feel a tinge of guilt for laughing as I comforted Rand, but I figure that this means we're even for all the times I've gotten up in the night with him.

Cover Star!

If you are looking for a really cute calendar that supports a worthy cause (and aren't we all?), check out Guide Dogs of the Desert's 2008 calendar:


And yes, that is our oh-so-dignified Nugget on the cover. Two of his puppies are Miss January (Star) and Miss August (Helen). Too cute! They're $10 and you can order them here:

http://guidedogsofthedesert.com/index2.html

Trikes and Ramblings

Rand learned how to ride his trike yesterday! He still can't reach the pedals, but he figured out how to push with his feet and get the bike to scoot forward. He is having a blast. At one point he fell off and skinned his knee but that couldn't stop him from getting back on.

I'm feeling quite insulted right now. Rand was getting his nightly nursing session (yes, I know he's almost two....) when he stopped and asked me for some milk. I reminded him what he was doing, and he said that he was thirsty. So I went and got him milk. And there was no more nursing for Rand tonight.

Rand found "Beloved," the Toni Morrison book on our shelf. There was a picture of the author on the back cover, and Rand looked at it and said, "Lela?" (That's his word for Grandma Girard.) Now, if you've seen Candida, you could see how she and Toni Morrison would look alike to a little kid. Werner almost died laughing.

Werner ended up sleeping in Rand's room a few nights ago because Rand was having a rough time sleeping. At one point, Werner woke up during the night with Rand's face inches away from him. Rand looked at Daddy with a huge grin and said, "Pasta?"

Rand is starting to pretend a lot. It's so fun seeing his imagination grow. He has a xylophone that he pretends is a vaccuum, and he uses it to vaccuum under the table and chairs. He has put his stuffed dog in a time-out, too. It always seems like we're mean parents when he does that, but really, he gets maybe three time-outs a week.

The Internet

Rand has learned how to surf the net! Well, not really, but he does know how to work the mouse. Werner found that pbskids.org has a Teletubbies section with all sorts of games for little kids. Rand and Daddy have a lot of fun together. Rand's gotten quite good at moving the mouse to the right area. He also knows to only click the left button.

He also continues to be fascinated with the washing machine. Aren't the tippy-toes cute?

This last one isn't a very good picture, but it's the only one I could get before Rand noticed me and came running towards me. Werner was kind enough to let me sleep in on Saturday morning, and when I came out, he and Rand were chilling out on the couch watcing cartoons together.

What do turtles say?

Rand is convinced that turtles say, "Ribbit," like frogs (maybe because frogs and turtles are usually on the same page of his books?). I don't want to correct him, because what do turtles say? "No, Rand, turtles don't say ribbit, they say...um....never mind."

Laundry

Rand has a new obsession: the washing machine. First he has to help me load it. Then we pour the soap. Then he wants to watch until the machine is filled up with water. Usually at this point I can convince him to close it and move on to a new activity, but after a few minutes he comes up to me: "Ook! ook! johnny!" This translates to "Look at the laundry." We look, he's satisfied for two minutes, then it repeats itself.

This morning I did two loads of laundry, and spent about an hour looking at the laundry getting washed. Exciting stuff.

Another busy week

Once again, it's been another busy week! We made play-doh for the first time. It was green and Rand had lots of fun. He kept calling it "cookie dough" but after one taste quickly realized that it wasn't edible.

The one on the right has been occupying a lot of my time this week. She's 9 months old, and is staying here for a week while we train her. The dog business has really been picking up, which is very exciting for me.

Rand had some fun with the camera this week. He says, "Look! look! look!" until we let him look through the viewfiner. He also likes pushing the button to take the picture. Don't you love the light/dark contrast in this picture? We call it "Father in Still Life."

Rand's been doing so well at sleeping in his own room! It was a hard transition at first (he'd been in our room all summer while Doug was here) but the last few nights he's stayed in bed all night. We're going to get him a toddler bed very soon. He's also being so good about staying in bed until we come get him. This is what greets me when I walk into his room in the morning: