Anderson Speak

Anderson loves Dora. Every morning when he wakes up he says, "Wa-Wa Pack-Pack," which translates to "Watch Back-Pack." We usually have to distract him with breakfast so he doesn't throw a big fit about not getting to watch TV the second he comes downstairs. When he does watch Dora, he is totally entranced, which usually allows me to get a quick shower! Here is his Dora vocabulary. If you're not familiar with the characters from the show, I've included their real names and type of animal. It's very entertaining and cute to to wactch him read all of Ellie's Dora books, too.

"Pack-Pack" - Dora (She carries a purple backpack, so that's what Anderson calls her.)
"Boop" - Boots - monkey
"Coo-coo" - Tico - squirrel
"Pap" - Map (a talking map from Dora's backpack)
"Blah" - Isa - Iguanna (He won't even attemp to say this name correctly!)
"Doh-doh" - Diego - Dora's animal rescuer cousin

Baseball Update

Walker's in his baseball glory days. He gets to play two games a week and, lately, we've been playing a lot at the Lewis house. He's certainly one of the more aggressive boys on the field in pee wee. Or pre-pee wee, actually (underhand coach pitch with aluminum bats and the soft baseballs - better than big bat like I was expecting). Anyway, Carla and I have both had to talk to him about not diving in front of other players to make the play. It's hard to tell him not to be aggressive, though, 'cause I don't want him standing out there letting balls roll by him either.

Last Sunday night in a family game, Walker took pretty wicked line drive off the leg from Aunt Andrea when he was playing 1st base. The next inning she hit another line drive right at him but he caught it for an out - sweet revenge. It basically drilled him in the stomach and he wrapped his arms around it.

Ellie's somewhat less interested in her games, so far as I can tell. She says she's having fun and does like to hit but doesn't pay any attention in the field. She tries to fill the ball up with dirt before throwing it back in - just for fun, I guess.

Anderson's probably just wondering why he has to sit outside in his stroller for an hour 4 nights a week. At least there's always snacks for him.

Walker's first four wheeler (wreck)

First, Ellie, asking for help with the bathroom scale: Do you wanna go see how high I am in your bedroom on that thing where you weigh your body on?

OK, now the four wheeler. Two Sundays ago, I told Walker I was going to give him a surprise for being brave while I plucked about 50 splinters out of his hand that he got from playing with a poking stick back by the fire pit. I was thinking I'd get him a basketball game for the computer but everyone else thought I meant the 4 wheeler. Well, I figured that would work but I had to get it running first. I didn't get a chance to work on it until the next Sunday which meant we had to put up with him asking about it over and over again for an entire week. When the time finally came to give it to him, I asked him what he thought it might be. The only clue I had given him was that it was an outside surprise. His response: "A new baseball game! No, a new hockey stick! . . . No, new balloons!!!" I'm still confused about that last one.

He was very excited when he found out what it really was. Carla put his helmet on him and I went over how to work the throttle and the brakes (though I failed to mention that you should let off the throttle when braking. We had to go over that one later after he nearly ran into me). After that, he was off to the races. He rode around the perimeter of the yard and around the house over and over again. We have a couple very small hills toward the back of the yard that he was "jumping" over. We could hear him from clear up by the swing set yelling "WOOO!" every time he hit one. He definitely got the hang of it very quick. Or so we thought.

After about a half hour of watching him ride, I got mine out and followed him around some. On our second or third lap around the house, he suddenly decided to cut through the middle of the back yard where he, of course, hit a hill, lost control, ran into some pretty big rocks, flipped over the handlebars, and the four wheeler landed on top of him. Fortunately, I was right behind him and had the bike off of him in seconds. He was a little banged up, bruised his leg, but that was about it. He didn't get burned or anything. I was afraid that he'd never want to ride again 'cause he was pretty shaken up at first. Fortunately, he was begging me the next day to get it back out. We couldn't get it out then but I got it out for him last night. He jumped on and drove right into a bush. Oh well, I'm sure he's willing to put in the "work" to enhance his navigational capabilities.

Carlita se afeita

Carla came out of the bathroom with her face still covered in face wash yesterday. Ellie said, "Mom, why are you shaving?" Yeah, El, she was shaving her cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead.

I was driving Walker to baseball practice yesterday and we had the following conversation.
Walker: Dad, sometimes Spanish talkers say 'Papa'.
Me: Spanish tacos?
Walker: No, Spanish talkers. . . . Maybe I should have said 'humans'.
Me: Spanish humans?
Walker: Or . . . 'people'. Yeah.

Speaking of Spanish humans, Dora taught Anderson how to say "Parada". I'm so glad my family can Hablar Espanol. Thanks, Jack Jefferson!

18 days and 3 flus later . . .

We're back. Ellie, Anderson, then Walker (again, although very mild) have all had the flu since our last post. Fortunately, none of them were of the avian, swine, or super type.

Ellie says you have to be careful with nail polish remover because "it has mosquitoes in it." She meant chemicals.

Anderson says really short sentences now like, "Cookie bye-bye", which means he doesn't want a cookie, "More ball . . . happy", which means he wants the ball back because he's having fun, and "Hi, Turtle", which means "Hi, Turtle."

Walker says things like "I heard it's supposed to rain today, by the way" which basically just means that he's getting a little too old to accidentally say funny things.

Congratulations to Tim and Jen - the latest from Sunday School to add to the future nursery overcrowding problem. Welcome baby Silas.

Birthday blahs

We had Walker's birthday party on Sunday afternoon, which was good for a 2 reasons. First, it was a really nice day so he got to play with his new outside toys, including a remote controlled truck big enough that Anderson can ride. Second, Monday night he woke up with the stomach flu and spent Tuesday (his actual birthday) laying on the couch getting better. At least he was able to play with his new hot wheels, listen to his MP3 player, etc. instead of being totally bored. By the afternoon, he was even playing with his hyper jump game. Tuesday evening, by which time I was feeling pretty miserable, he was even feeling good enough to go to Bob Evan's for supper, which he had been looking forward to for some time. He must have really had his appetite back by then because when we got there, he said, "We should have gone to one of those automatic restaurants like McDonald's or Chic-fil-a where they give you the food right away." And today, Carla feels sick. Hopefully she won't pass it to someone else . . .

Basketball, decorative towels, and new words

I turned the radio on for Walker the other night when he went to bed so he could listen to the basketball game.
Announcer: . . . sinks the shot. That makes it 62-56 . . .
Walker: Huh, sounds like the third quarter.

First thing when I came home one night this week from work, Ellie met me in the kitchen and showed me the new towels hanging from the handle on the oven. She said, "Daddy, you can't dry your hands on these towels. They're decorations. They're only to look at. I like the flowers and the bees. So don't dry your hands on them. Only look at them." Sigh . . . just like mommy.

Anderson's talking up a storm, now. Ask him if he's happy and he'll either say "Happy" or shake his head and say "hmmm mmm". Ask him what he likes to watch on TV and he'll say "Georgie" (curious george) and his favorite breakfast food is a "nannie" (banana).

Oh, happy birthday, Dad.