bah (ball or bottle, depending on context)
ba (as in the first sound of "bath")
beh (bird)
bubb (bubbles--not Bubby, sorry! Although we have tried.)
ca (car)
cake
cu (cup)
da (dad)
dow (down)
go
mama
mo (more)
pa (puppy)
pah (park)
puh (puff)
shoe
tru (truck)
As for the rest of our activities this week, we will present them (as usual) chronologically, mundane though they be. Monday: Must have been Andrew's day for messes this week. In an unattended moment, Andrew figured out how to open a container of baby peas (he hasn't eaten baby food in some time, but we still have a few leftovers). Before we could stop him, he had shaken the entire contents all over the floor, leaving our kitchen looking like some sort of swamp monster had just been there. Later that evening, Dan watched Andrew while I went to the Writing Center. While I was gone, Andrew discovered the salt shaker on the table, and proceeded to shake salt all over the table and himself. Dan spent much of the remainder of the evening brushing salt out of Andrew's hair. As for me, I either neglected to tell Dan that I was doing a class visit after my appointments, or he forgot that I'd mentioned it--in any case, when I called him at 8:15 to say that I was late coming home, he was beginning to think something serious had happened to me, as he had expected me home an hour previously.
Tuesday evening, Dan went again to Huntingdon, where the youth played water volleyball until the skies opened up, and then they proceeded to throw the water balloons at each other. Needless to say, Dan came home soaked.
Wednesday, Dan went to the DC temple with the Huntingdon youth to do baptisms; meanwhile, Andrew and I went with our friends Stephanie and Gaby to Belleville, where they run a large farmer's market/auction every Wednesday during the summer. We walked around the stalls for a while, bought some fresh produce (the two toddlers, meanwhile, stared avidly around at all the people and the occasional animals). Belleville is also near local Amish country, which meant that among the cars and trucks assembled for the market were also a series of horses and carriages (Andrew was particularly excited by the horse). Afterwards, we had fried chicken and french fries at a local restaurant. By the time we left, both children (who had missed their morning naps in the excitement) were exhausted--by the time we'd driven more than a couple of miles both of them were sound asleep in their carseats in the back, sucking loudly on their pasifiers (it was rather cute). That evening, I was supposed to do a presentation on academic writing for a group of undergraduates at Penn State for a summer research program at 6 pm. Dan was intending to be back by 5:30, but since we all know what happens to the best of intentions, he called at 5 saying he was just leaving Huntingdon (nearly an hour's drive away). That meant I had approximately twenty minutes or so to find someone to take Andrew for half an hour and then get to campus. I begged one of our acquaintances to take him (who agreed rather reluctantly--she'd had a hard day and her house was a mess--not a good choice for Andrew!), but there wasn't anyone else who was close enough. Our closest neighbors weren't home, and by this time I was running short on options. Luckily, I ran into our neighbors at the end of the street on my way to Andrew's potential sitter, and one of them agreed to go back to the house and watch Andrew for a bit--so it all worked out for everyone concerned.
Not much happened on Thursday; I took Andrew to the park after his afternoon nap, where he ran around for a while. He was somewhat limited in his climbing abilities, though, because he insisted on carrying a small container of bubble solution everywhere with him. (I made the mistake of getting him a little spill-proof container that is now his new favorite toy--he wants to take it with him literally everywhere!). This made it rather hard for him to climb stairs.
Friday morning, Andrew and I set off on a round of yard sales. Not surprisingly, we ran into Stephanie and Gaby at the first yard sale we went to (if anything, Stephanie is more avid about yardsales than I am!). We then joined forces to visit the next couple, partly because Andrew protested everytime they walked away from us, perhaps believing that he was somehow going to get left behind. It's pretty funny to watch him and Gaby interact together--because they've spent so much time with each other, they have no self-consciousness and they're actually, on occasion, pretty good about sharing. That evening, because Steph's husband was out of town, we had them over for dinner as well--which meant more face-time for Andrew and Gaby, who spent the first several minutes of dinner staring fixedly at each other (and egging each other on subsequently in terms of who could eat more--and then who could throw more food on the ground).
Saturday: more yard sales! I found some really wonderful ones, including one where a couple was selling nice toddler boy clothes for a quarter a piece, and a reversible Eddie Bauer coat (scarcely worn) for $1. I have to confess that I was a little grumpy that morning because Andrew woke up just before 5 and wouldn't go back to sleep (unfortunately, this was probably my fault--when I'd adjusted the thermostat before going to bed I adjusted it way too high and the room was sweltering). But when I asked Andrew if he wanted to go to work with his dad, he said emphatically "no." So I asked, do you want to go to some yard sales? And he responded enthusiastically, "yeah, yeah!" Apparently my addiction is beginning to affect Andrew too . . . After his morning nap, we went to the library to get new books and fortuitously ran into Dan there (great minds think alike . . .). Andrew loves running around in the children's section, where they have a table with an elaborate train set, and a little puppet theater for kids. After his afternoon nap, we went to visit the park behind our house. On a previous visit, I had watched a precocious little girl (three months younger than Andrew) tackle the slides virtually on her own, with her father standing vigilantly by to give her support. At the time, I thought her father was quite brave! But on Saturday, after experience Andrew's vigorous protests every time I tried to go down the slide with him (he definitely did not want my help), I reluctantly decided to let him try the slides alone--I stood by to offer balance as needed, and I caught him on the way down, but he mastered even the big slide alone. He, needless to say, was thrilled--he went down the same slide five times in rapid succession--but I had my heart in my throat the whole time. My baby is getting so independent . . .
And that brings us today. Last night, Dan made cupcakes for the young men (the president is moving this week to Utah, where he will be married in August). I frosted them (well, most of them--after I teased Dan about his inferior frosting technique he let me do the rest of them!). We, rather unwisely, left the cupcakes on the table (in a cake carrier) . . . and you can probably guess the rest. This morning, Andrew climbed up on the table and, almost before we realized what he was doing, had upended the whole carrier so all 20+ cupcakes were smashed together on one end of the carrier. I had to refrost all of them and wash the container before we left for church at 8. Then, this afternoon, we had Megan Baylis over for dinner (Steve is out of town, so she was temporarily alone with their new baby). Sophie, who is six weeks old, was fussing during dinner, so I offered to hold her so Megan could actually eat something. This, however, had unexpected consequences--Andrew had a severe case of mommy envy--he began to cry, and when I would get close to him to try to calm him down, he would grab at any available part of my (my clothes, my arms). Clearly, he didn't like having to share his mom--something we'll need to cure him of if we ever want a second child!
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