Must start watching my mouth....

.....because Rand is starting to imitate everything! This last week he has said, out of the blue:

"I'm so sick of this"

and

"That's not my problem."

Now, nothing big or dramatic has happened recently, so I'm sure I just said these in my regular conversation at some point. But it is pretty hilarious to hear them coming out of a 2-year-old's mouth.

Mmmmmm.

A couple weeks ago we found the BEST little donut shop right next to Werner's school. It's family-owned and very small, but the donuts are delicious. We've been stopping there once a week after we drop Werner off at work, and Rand thinks that donuts are one of the greatest things ever. He always chooses one with sprinkles. He doesn't like to eat his donut in the car and will hold it very carefully until we get home. Doesn't he look happy?

Thanks, Grandpa!

Grandpa got to go to the Sundance Film Festival last month and got a great souvenir for Rand....the moment he opened it he wanted to try it on, hence the clothes underneath!

I couldn't get him to stop talking about the shirt long enough to smile -- this was actually the best of five photos.

The artist at work

Rand L-O-V-E-S his watercolor set from Aunt Katie. So much, in fact, that we need to go buy some more as he's scraping the bottom on most of the colors. One of his favorite things to do is sit and paint and paint and paint.

This is actually how we spent New Year's morning -- Rand had found the paint set right before bedtime the night before, so I told him that we could paint in the morning. The first thing he said when he opened his eyes was, "Now we paint?" So at 7:30 A.M., there we were, painting. Happy New Year!

The World's Biggest Puddle!

Just right for splashing in.

Word games

Rand's newest game is to try and quiz Werner and me about colors and animals and such. He'll come in holding a red truck, and ask us, "Is the truck blue?" When we say, "No!" he laughs and laughs. Then he'll ask, "Is the truck purple?" Usually by the second time, he can't stand the anticipation and answers his own question: "Noooo!" This can go on and on, using all of the colors of the rainbow, before he'll ask, "Is the truck red? Yes!!"

He's always so proud of himself after we finish the sequence. It's so fun to see him understanding language more and more every day.

Talking

Rand is using "proper" English more and more! It is so funny to hear these grown-up phrases coming out of his mouth. Things like....

"I'm SOOOO hungry."

or

Me: "Rand, would you like a banana for breakfast?"

Rand: "No, I'd like a quesadilla."

or

"I want more milk please."

or (when we graciously allow him to snuggle in OUR bed with us for a little while)

"Stop touching my bed! Move over!"

Ahem.

I think the strain of sharing so many of his toys in the last few weeks is starting to traumatize him. Recently he's been waking up at night screaming, "Stop touching my train!" or "Let go of my car!" Ahhh, the hard life of a 2-year-old.....

What Rand Did At Candida's Wedding.

In other news, we had our first toy casualty of Rand's young life. His beloved blue train (seen in the picture in the post below) got left on the floor when we went out running errands and Nugget chewed it to bits. Completely unlike Nugget, and Werner was so mad he was ready to send him back to Palm Springs. Luckily we intercepted the remains of blue train before Rand could see it. Then Werner, being the empathetic person that he is, promptly got back in the car and spent two hours (totally unprompted by me, I would've given up waaaay earlier) looking for another blue train. He wasn't completely successful, but did come home with a shiny new Thomas the Tank Engine toy that plays music and goes choo-choo!

Thank goodness Rand was absolutely thrilled and has not yet asked for blue train. I'm sure that day will come, however, and then we'll have to go back to the Scottsdale Train Park again to buy a new one.