The Funny Things He Does

We have moved on from Elmo. Well, maybe not "moved on". But we have started watching something else. Clifford. I'm so excited! For a while, Luke would wake up in the morning and b-line it to the TV so he could watch Elmo. Then he let me put in Garfield, the movie, and somewhat watched it. And then he started letting me put in cartoons and some tv shows with good beginning credit music like "Puss in Boots", "Hop", and "Psych". But now he's officially started watching another show and that's Clifford. At least it's educational. I'm so proud of him. When I was little, there was only Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers, and I didn't like either. I ended up watching The Land Before Time and Beauty and the Beast and Winnie the Pooh over and over again.
Ah, sweet success.

Now for the cute things that he does... well, he says names in the most adorable way. Mommy and DaDa are a given. He calls my sister "Maaace" and he'll shout down the hall or up the stairs for her all the time. Grammy still sounds like Mommy. He used to call John "uh-duh". No idea where that came from. Abuelita is "a-Ma e e" (supposed to be Mama Lily). Tish, the dog, is like my sister in that every time he says her name, it's like he's shouting it. He pronounces Jul really well. Interesting because Jul doesn't like kids (or doesn't show it) and we don't hang out, so I don't know how Luke even retained that information. And of course, if he can't say your name - he just says yeah. Aside from the names of people, Luke is learning food, colors, and animals. He knows apples (everything red and round is an apple), cereal, leche, jugo/juice, agua (sometimes mixes up leche and agua), crackers, cookies, frutas, eggs, pizza (tee-pa), purple, puppy, kitty, bear, and bug. He also likes to call out "door" every time he sees one. And sometimes "car". I think, just so he can inform me that that's what it is.

Yesterday, I brought out my old gymnastics mat so Luke could jump from the Pilates stools to the mat and do forward rolls etc. Grammy taught him all that. And it really wears him out for bed time. He would jump from the stool to the mat and roll off the mat and run to me and say "Mommy mommy" right in my face so that he knew I was watching him. His expressions are priceless!

I don't know if this is "cute", but he also picks his nose and makes messes and afterward says ew. Even though he is a boy, I have taught him well. He picks up his mess if he dumps food on the floor. He'll wipe up a spill. He'll throw his trash away, and he'll put his dishes in the sink when he's done (which is more than what Aldo or myself have done).

A cute, little gentleman has been molded and here's to age 2. I love my son so much. When he's running in circles so fast, having fun, and the whole time I'm thinking he's going to hit something because he's not paying attention and he can't run in a straight line whatsoever... it's moments like that where I know I am completely gone. I am no longer my former self. I am a mother, a wife, and completely in love with this family. Sheesh, I went the whole time without getting sentimental.

All Things Elmo

Yes, Luke is now hooked on Elmo. First thing in the morning, that's what he wants to do. Watch Elmo. This originally started in Texas when we were visiting family. We hadn't thought to bring toys. Oops and Duh! So we had to run by a store and Elmo seemed good. He didn't like it. He didn't even want to play with it at the time.
After a few months, I went through this shock of - oh my gosh, how do kids learn anything?! I'm supposed to teach my child how numbers, colors, letters, naming things, sounds, etc. and I just didn't know where to start. I asked my sister-in-law, who has two boys of her own that are only a little bit older than Luke, and she said that it just happened. They watched educational shows and asked when they wanted to know. So in a panic that Luke wasn't getting anything, I brought home "Elmo", "Barney", "Dora", and some other stuff. And Elmo stuck. First time I put it in, he sat right down and watched the full show.
Now he knows all or most of the characters' names and what they like. On the good side, he's learned about animals, food, exercise, etc. It's also opened us up for potty training. Luke received an Elmo potty. It flushes and laughs. And an Elmo potty book and we've watched the movie together on how to potty. It'll happen when he's ready. Right now he's scared to sit on it naked. He's also watched the Elmo sharing movie. Not working yet. (I think he's entering into the Terrible Twos early... he got in trouble the other day for hitting a little girl and later pushing her into the wall in SUNDAY SCHOOL!)
So if you're wondering what has been going on with us lately - it's Elmo.