Babble & Mischief

Toby doesn't cry when he wants to get up in the morning anymore. He simply calls out, "Maaaaaaaamaaaaa.....Maaaaaaaamaaaaaaa......Mama?" in a low tone. Sometimes he does the same thing with Dada. This morning he called out, "Waaaaadooooh (water) Mama! Waaaaadoooh!"

He likes to babble and sometimes it really seems like we're having a conversation. Here are all the words Toby can say at 17 months old:

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Bubber (brother)
4. Hi
5. Bye-Bye
6. Ni-Ni (night, night)
7. Baba (bottle--which means milk)
8. Ball
9. Bubble
10. Eat
11. More
12. Awgun (all done)
13. Look
14. Me-Me (can either mean "mine" or "hear you go")
15. Whoa
16. Wow
17. Ow
18. Piggies
19. Badoh (spider)
20. Yippee
21. Yay
22. Yesh (yes)
23. No
24. Peas (please)
25. Dan Q (thank you)
26. Wadoh (water)
27. Whee
28. Boop (nose)
29. Dak (Jack)
30. Bob
31. Mamaw (pronounced like ma'am-MAW, means grandma)
32. Nanny (Granny)
33. Shoe
34. Bup (up)
35. Baby
36. Ducky
37. Fishy
38. Kiki (kitty)
39. Beep

That's all I can think of right now, but he seems to come out with a new word evey day. He can also click his tongue, blow zurberts, smooch, and blow hard enough into a flute to produce a sharp piercing tone. And he likes to sing.

Here are all the ways Toby has gotten into trouble in the last week (I'm really not a bad mother. He is just exceptionally skilled at wreaking havoc):

1. Turning on the dishwasher
2. Attempting to climb into the clothes dryer
3. Touching the fan
4. Finding and playing with scissors
5. Emptying the bookshelves
6. Emptying the cupboards
7. Throwing rocks (or anything, really)
8. Trying to pry the socket covers out the electrical outlets
9. Ramming his push car into his brother
10. Locking himself in to the bathroom
11. Pulling on the lamp cord
12. Attempting to push down the fake ficus tree
13. Spreading his teeth on Noah (that's how Noah described it--he meant biting)

I know some of you are surprised that Toby can be such a handful. And he can be, but he also continues to be a supreme cuddlebug. He fills our home with laughter. He is beyond cute. Despite what you read on the list above he is sensitive and charming and he seems to know that he can heal peoples hearts just by resting his head on their shoulder and staying that way for an hour or two (this really happens!). He has dirty, chubby knees, he can't get enough of patty-cake, itsy-bitsy spider, this little piggy, or this is the way the gentlemen ride. Sometimes I am compelled to rush over to him and swing him into the air just so I can hear his perfect giggles. Then I must hold him close to me and simply breathe him in and murmur into his neck, "I love you, you little punk."

There's something different about you...

Today Geary invited Noah to accompany him to the grocery store for some ice-cream. Noah was so excited about this outing that he hurriedly slipped his bare feet into his shoes. On the way to the store he must have realized something was missing because he commented, "I hope people can recognize me without my socks."

Summer Days Driftin' Away...

Is it really August 26th?? That means school starts in one week. And that means I will officially have a kindergartener! It also means I have to go through that transition of missing Geary at home. We've had a great summer. It seems like it's been a long one, too. Our trip to Black Butte feels like it happened a year ago. But maybe that's just because we're sleep deprived from watching the Olympics.

Yesterday we drove into Portland to the Dennis Uniform store. Now that was a crazy experience. Kids were tossed to into dressing rooms with their parents throwing navy and khaki and all manner of plaid to them and other parents as if it were a fish market. Two women fighting over the last pair of gray walking shorts size 14 husky. And an employee announcing over the loudspeaker that they only had 3 size small St. Vincent's P.E. shirts left. It was a circus. But we were able to find what we needed with only two quick trips to the dressing room frenzy area and now Noah is all set for school.

Our last week of summer has filled up quickly, too. Today we're having some new friends over for dinner. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for coffee and then our family is going over to the piece of land where Veritas will be building their new school building for an Excavation Celebration. Thursday is the Kindergarten Picnic. Friday I'm meeting up with a lady who was a mentor to me in highschool and her daughter who I used to babysit who is now a junior at George Fox (small world!) And this weekend we're helping out at the farm for a garage sale. I'm kind of tired just thinking about it all!

I guess our last days of summer are not so much "driftin'" as racing away. It's okay though, I'm looking forward to the next season.