Lots To Catch Up On

Wow. Long time, no update.

Well, since the last entry here, Scott’s celebrated his first birthday. He’s turned into a very fun kid, pretty much making up for the first 6 months or so when he nearly drove us nuts with whining and crying. He’s very steady on his feet, running just about everywhere and climbing on the furniture. He also has a sixth sense for trouble, always managing to find the most potentially dangerous (or breakable) object in any room and heading straight for it. He doesn’t have the balance issues that plagued Jason early on and he generally has a terrific understanding of the physical world and his place in it. Except, that is, for having a serious misunderstanding of his size. We’re always finding him trying to squeeze into some space or other he’s too big for.

We estimate Scott knows about 50 words now. During the holidays, he’d point at the Christmas tree whenever the lights came on and say what sounded like “vhree!”, which we took to mean “tree” until he used the same word for flowers and one of the neighborhood moms. Then we decided he was saying, “pretty.” His currently vocabulary includes “shoes, bye-bye, Momma, Daddy, Jason, eat” and the all-purpose “see!!!” (which means, “let me touch that interesting-looking thing over there”). Last night he amazed me when I read a line from Dr Seuss to him: “I am a Yop, I like to hop, from fingertop to fingertop.” When I said it, he held up his hands and stared at them. So we started quizzing him and he was able to point out his nose, his teeth and his hair, which Laura says is advanced for his age.

Scott also shows signs of learning his numbers and letters, though he’s nowhere near as obsessive about it as his big brother. When the Alphabet Song starts to play, he cries out “ABC’s!” and in a few cases he can fill in missing letters when we recite the alphabet to him. He also knows that “3” follows “2,” which makes it fun when we’re trying to discipline Jason (DADDY: “Jason, you’ve got until I count to three to stop that whining…one…two…” SCOTT: “Three!”)

Not to be outdone, Jason’s also growing like mad. At a recent doctor visit, he measured in with a height of 40 inches tall and a weight of 36 pounds. He continues to enjoy school days with his friends and teachers and he’s showing some talent as an artist. The teacher says he’s one of the most unusual two-year-olds she’s ever taught, as he can and does read everything in sight. One day last week she brought him inside for a potty break in the middle of recess and she was worried they wouldn’t make it back outside before playtime was over, as he insisted on stopping at every sign and poster in the building to read it out loud.

As ever, Jason loves listening to music, especially “This Old Man,” which he’ll sing anytime for anyone (you can hear it here). One CD of children’s songs he enjoys starts off with the song, “Rock-A-My-Soul,” which he likes to listen to while rocking on the wooden horse on loan from Uncle Tommy. At least once a day, he pipes up with the request: “I want to rock-a my soul!” Among his other passtimes, Jason loves to watch “Between the Lions” on PBS and make sculptures with his Play-Doh and he’s getting a lot better at throwing a ball (sometimes in the house, which isn’t so good). His favorite foods lately are sweet potatoes (“sweet pah-tay-yahs”), yogurt, hot dogs and pepperoni.

During the holidays, Scott joined Jason for their first visit to Santa, and when asked when he’d like for Christmas, Jason told St Nick, “Presents!” We’ll see if remains that easy to please as he gets older! The mild winter here in Virginia has allowed for lots of fun trips to the park and rides in the wagon, and we’re all looking forward to more adventures now that Spring is here.