Putting a positive spin on things....

He's only two, yet a career in PR may be in his future:

"Mommy, my doggie is drying!" ("doggie" refers to his little white stuffed dog, which Rand sometimes sleeps with)
"Hmmm. Why is your doggie drying?"
"'Cause he got wet!"
"How did he get wet?"
"In the toilet."
"Ah. I see."

Opinions and Imagination

Rand has been developing both his own opinion and his own imagination recently. Both are great to watch, but the imagination bit is a lot more fun for mom and dad. He likes building "birthday cakes" in the sand, complete with a stick for a candle, then have us pretend to blow the candle out. Uncle Thom the Great gave him some giant Lego-like toys for Christmas -- Rand likes to use those to build water towers for his train tracks and stairs for the people to walk on. Usually the water towers and the stairs look pretty much the same, but it's so fun to see how proud he is of his work.

Rand's also started having an opinion on many, many things, and I'm still working out a balance between letting him learn the consequences of his decisions, and when I should just ignore his input. Like tonight -- we were going to the drugstore, then to the park. After we got into the store after our errand, Rand said that he didn't want to go to the park and that he wanted to go home. We went through the same thing earlier in the week, and of course, when we arrived at home, he burst into tears and was so mad when I wouldn't take him to the park. So tonight, I suggested that we just drive by the park and then he could tell me if he still wanted to go home. He protested all the way to the park, but as soon as he saw the sand and the slide he wanted to get out and play. Hmmm.

It has been HOT for the last few days -- at 8pm tonight it was still 102 outside. It is supposed to cool down later in the week, but Summer is definitely here.

Singing!

Life has become, as Catherine put it, "a perpetual opera" for Rand. He found his singing voice a couple of weeks ago and now goes through the day singing and singing and singing! He sings about his pants, and bananas, and trains, and Otto. Usually the "song" consists of him singing one word (like "trains, trains, trains, train!") over and over, loudly and with gusto!

Werner taught him the silly old hymn "Jesus is Like the Rain" and they like to sing that together. Werner is quite pleased that Rand already has an idea of pitch and has high hopes that he will get daddy's and not mommy's singing voice.

Rand woke up very very early yesterday after going to bed very very late. He came into my room and asked for a banana. I was trying desperately to get just a few more minutes of sleep (hah!) so I told him to get his stool and get it off of the counter himself. Rand said that it was too high, and I asked him to just pretty please just try for mommy's sake to get the banana himself. He pattered off, and a few minutes later came back into the bedroom -- beaming, and with a banana! He told me that he went "way up into the sky and got a banana!" It was so cute how proud he was of himself.

Conversations with Rand

Scene: I'm eating some buffalo wings while surfing the internet.

Rand: "What's that? I want a taste!"

Me: "They're hot wings. You can try it but they're kind of spicy."

Rand tastes it. "That's yucky."

He wipes his hands on the keyboard and walks off.

Scene: Rand has been playing daddy's guitar. He walks over to me, still holding the pick, and starts strumming on my shirt.

Rand: "What music does mommy make?"

Me: "I don't know -- what?"

Rand: "Old McDonald!!"

He was out playing with bubbles on the porch earlier, and I could hear him talking to himself -- "Do you want some more? Why yes, thank you."

I bought my first piece of baby girl clothing last night -- this hat, only in light blue. This is going to be fun!

Hiking pictures (and ice cream, of course)

Last weekend we went "hiking" with Katie and Catherine. Rand did a great job climbing and took a wonderful nap afterwards! Here's a few pictures from our weekend....

Stuff stuff stuff

Lots of excitement going on at the Girard house recently!

Werner got his Father's Day present early -- he's been wanting dreadlocks for ages and Rand was going to 'give' them to daddy for Father's Day. However, this meant that Werner's hair has been getting longer and longer and longer and more scruffy looking! So, I asked how he would feel about getting his Father's Day present early, and Werner jumped at the chance. This is Stage One and they actually look kind of cool.

Baby girl is officially and definitely a baby girl! We finally got around to getting our second ultrasound and were assured that there was no doubt. Good timing, too, as so far I have one baby girl outfit and approximately 75 days until she arrives. We have picked out our super-cool double stroller and our co-sleeper, and thanks to Rand's baby things, we are in pretty good shape. They did a quick 3-D peek as well and she looks suspiciously like Rand.

Winnie the Bull Terrier has boomeranged back to me again and is looking for a home for real this time. If you know anybody who wants a sweet, goofy little dog, just let me know!

Rand surprised me at nap time by telling me that he wanted to read me his books -- and he actually did a great job reciting the stories pretty much word for word. He is really starting to get interested in reading and is constantly asking, "What's that spell? What's that spell?"

Rand's sayings

Have I mentioned how much I love it that Rand talks? Some highlights from the last few days....

-- Aunt Katie and Miss Catherine came out for a lovely visit. Katie was wearing a blue shirt, and when Rand couldn't remember her name, he called her "the blue one."
-- This morning Rand and I were snuggling in bed. He said, "Guess what, mom?" "Guess what, Rand?" "Guess what, mom?" followed by a huge kiss.
-- We were reading Rand's new Babybug and it had a picture of an African-American family. Rand said, "They got a lot of chocolate on their hands!"
-- Last night we were talking about our upcoming trip to California to visit Grandpa and Grandma. Rand told me, "John calls you Elizabeth. You say, 'What, John?'"

Rand knows that I am a dog trainer and Werner is a teacher. Whenever I come home from dog training, Rand says, "Hi, mom! My mom's home! I missed you, mom! Mommy go train a dog! I love my mom!" It's very sweet and makes me feel quite adored.

Because he has no toys....

Yesterday morning Rand came up to me, carefully holding something between his thumb and index finger. "Mom, what's that?" he asked me. I looked -- and it was a dead fly. I said, "It's a bug." "Yes!" he said, excitedly. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so I said that was cool and for him to throw it in the trash when he was done looking at it.

Next thing I know, Rand is next to the arm of the couch, pushing the fly along and saying, "Choo choo! Chugga chugga chugga!"

Is this child so deprived that he plays with dead insects instead of toys?

~~~~~~~

The two of us drove up to Sedona on Tuesday to visit Great-Grandma. We had a lovely visit with her and four of her friends. Rand loved being the center of attention for the afternoon! At one point, he started calling one of the older men "Grandpa." It was very sweet and funny but also a bit sad as I thought of my own Grandpa who should have been there, playing with his great grandbaby.

~~~~~~~

And I knew this would happen sometime.....we were all hanging out last night when Rand went over to Daddy, put his hand on Daddy's tummy, and said, "Daddy has a baby in his tummy! Wait for the bump!" (Rand likes to put his hand on my belly and feel the baby kick.)

Feel better/smell better/same thing!

I walked into the bathroom this morning and was greeted by this sight:

When I asked what he was doing, Rand said, "Deoderant makes my tummy feel better." Ahhh, of course.