Willpower

Sometimes I'll pull out crayons for Eddie. He's enthralled by them but still likes to eat them more than scribble. After telling him not to eat them, they're not food, he stood at his work bench scribbling and repeatedly brought a crayon close to his mouth, stopped, and shook his head. He showed strong willpower about a dozen times and then finally took a big chomp.

Cinnamon schoolhouse cookies

We've been able to let Eddie roam a little more freely lately. He's starting to concentrate more closely on his books and play and we can sometimes keep just our ears on him for a couple minutes at a time. Today, I heard that ominous silence that usually comes with paper destruction or cord fiddling. Instead, I found he'd broken into a box of cookies, dumped them all on the floor, and was shoveling them into his face.

Eddie the seagull

Eddie and I went to a delightful play date at Robin's - really, it raised the bar on casual midday get-togethers. Lasagna, salad, homemade bread, and good wine. Coffee and cupcakes. Robin's a lovely hostess and her home feels like your home when you visit. After lunch, while Luke, Matthew, and the Henrys played in the living room, Eddie wandered off to the dining room and foraged for food from Luke's high chair and the floor. Typical behavior for orsini, I guess. But Jill nailed it when she called him Eddie the Seagull. Hover, circle, advance, retreat, and eat, eat, eat.

Playgroup

Eddie has started going to a playgroup organized by the St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena church next door, which meets every Tuesday and Thursday morning. It being during prime nap time and with the flu epidemic, we've only made it once so far, but Eddie is a big fan. Our first session was chaotic and a bit overwhelming - for Mom. Dozens of kids from 6 mo to three years along with their moms, dads, grandparents, nannies, and au pairs gathered in a small auditorium above the parish office and wreaked havoc for two hours. There are several large PE-style mats that designate different zones:  the chunky cardboard block zone, the tabletop train area, the quiet book corner, the art tables, and, in the middle of it all, an extra large rumble tumble space with foam cubes and wedges to climb over and soft nylon tunnels to crawl through. Eddie'd seen one of these tunnels before at his bff Luke's house, but there he just peered through it and watched Luke scramble back and forth. After he got his bearings and sat through orientation at playgroup, Eddie beelined for the tunnels. He crawled through, hung out inside, held powwows, and ended up spending a lot of his time around them. Today, Papa made a grand entrance tunnel into the circus tent E got for Christmas by draping a comforter over a bench. It's a big hit.

Overall, I think playgroup is going to be good for all of us.

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(Thanks for the contribution, Eddie). Lots of growth opportunities for Eddie:  tons of kids, new and group-sized toys, and a large space dedicated to play. I'll get to see some friends and maybe meet new ones and add some rhythm to our week. I'll also have to learn to let go some, but that's another story.

Ball

Today, Eddie began responding to the question "Where's your ball?" by looking around for his ball, going and fetching it if he sees it, and then rolling it in your general direction!  If it ends up rolling off somewhere else instead, he'll helpfully point at it for you.  Wow!

Kittens & more

Before naptime, Eddie and I usually read Goodnight Moon.  Lately, he's started pointing at the kittens, who show up on several pages.  He apparently recognizes them, since he points to them on each page!  He also likes to point at the young mouse.

Pointing is something that Eddie is working on lately; he hasn't really pointed much up till now (he's a late pointer, I guess.)  Maybe he's inspired by seeing his cousin Stephen, who points all the time.  We were playing in the living room and I asked "Where's the ball?"  Eddie answered with a roundhouse point - first getting his index finger sticking out, then twisting his whole body so his arm swung around and ended up pointing right at the ball (which was only a foot away, so he was practically touching it.)

Eddie really likes to pull handkerchiefs out of pockets, but his parents are not so enthusiastic about this, so we've given him a clean hankie to call his own.  He likes it for playing peekaboo or just waving around.  Yesterday, though, he put it up to his nose and made blowing noises ("ffff," with his mouth)!  What a smart boy!  Maybe if we can train him to actually blow his nose, it'll help with his ongoing congestion.

Top of the stairs

After Eddie climbed up the stairs outside of our apartment, I asked him "Do you remember how to get down?"  (He learned how to back down a few stairs in Chardon.)  He responded by crawling over and pulling up on me to be picked up.  Yep, he remembered how - have Daddy carry him down!

Eddie in the big top

Bathtime

One of Eddie's bath toys is a life preserver on a short length of string.  During his bath today, Eddie handed me the life preserver, so I swung it back and forth on the string and said "You are getting very sleepy."  Eddie was not convinced by this, but he grabbed the life preserver and swung it back and forth on its string himself!  Just a couple of weeks ago, there's no way he could have managed that - his dexterity is really improving.  Then he gave it back to me, so I repeated the performance; after a few swings, he took it back and repeated it himself.  He also recited while he was swinging it, babbling.  We took turns doing it a whole heapful of times, then Eddie gave the life preserver to Anne.  She swung it too.  Eddie was delighted, then took it from her and gave it to me, and kept having his parents take turns swinging it, grabbing it from one and giving it to the other!

After bath time was over, I held Eddie by the mirror on the way out and said "There's Eddie!"  Then, he clearly said "Eddie!"  This is the second day in a row he's done this, but he wouldn't repeat it either night.

Happy New Year!  This will be the Year of the Toddler.