Growing

Eddie had a wonderful fourth birthday. We were at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Eddie got just a few presents, which he really liked, and he played with them all day with his six-year-old cousin who came over. This kind of celebration was just his speed. There was cake with candles to blow out, too!

The morning after, Eddie was up early with just me and Vincent. We discussed his birthday, and Eddie wasn't sure if the age change had stuck. "How old am I?" he asked. I asked him back, but he was unsure and wanted me to say it. "You're 4!" I told him.

Eddie stood up tall. Then he insisted I stand up as well. He looked up at me, then asked when he would be big like me!

The cutie thought he might have grown big like papa. I told him that at the rate he's going, he'll probably be my size when he's 13.

Treasure hunt

Our local toy store, Scooter Girl Toys, ran a Pirate Treasure Hunt last week. There was a map with 14 riddles and 14 spots around Roncesvalles marked. We had to visit all the spots, figure out which riddle matched the spot, and fill in the answers. Everyone who turned in a completed map was in a drawing for a prize!

Well, we traversed the neighborhood, the park, and the lakefront and learned lots of new things. Like: Two giant granite blocks in High Park are there because Irving Burman was commissioned to make a sculpture; he ordered the two blocks, then forgot what he wanted to make out of them! So they are still there. And: Castle Playground was burned down by arson a few years ago! We also found a bike park we didn't know about at all, with lots of ramps and dirt mountains. Eddie liked to sit and watch them do jumps.

We turned in our map, and yesterday we heard that Eddie was one of the winners! He won a little Playmobil police station. It comes with a cop, a robber, and accessories, and folds into a little box which locks to keep it safe from little brothers. He likes it a lot.

Hooray for pirate treasure!

Drinking

Drinking hot chocolate:

In the background, Vincent is eating a shoe.

Drinking water:

First birthday

Eddie was excited about Vincent's presents.

Investigating

Vincent got some help

Eddie is exercising his patience

Hmm. What's this?

Yum!

Brothers in castle playground

Boat ride

Signs

Eddie says this sign means "No shapes allowed".

New paintings

 These are some new paintings that Eddie did at kindergarten!

The first work that Eddie signed himself!

In this painting we see the sun; below it are some clouds, including a "cloud shaped like a mountain" on the right. At the bottom are three people, who Eddie says are Fred, Bred, and Tred (from right to left).

UPDATE:

Since posting, the names of these people have been canonicalized as Fred, Bed, and Pillow (from right to left).

Comments from Eddie

This evening, Vincent was eating some ravioli with tomato sauce. Eddie took a look at him and said "Vincent looks so cute with that beard!"

Later, Eddie commented "Did you know that police can be friends, too?"

"Oh yeah?" I said.

"Yeah, they play with all the kids."

"Oh."

"And the police friends don't even put them in jail!"

First day of junior kindergarten

Playground

Eddie decided to build a playground out of Legos. He built a swing and a jungle gym (with a tree to sit on) all on his own. Then he directed me to help him with a slide, a see-saw, and monkey bars. Later he added a play house. It has all the playground highlights!

Writing

Eddie has begun attempting to write his name! He did all these letters on his own. He was having fun making them really long.

Kindergarten

Eddie has started junior kindergarten! He's just three, but kids start kindergarten here in the calendar year that they turn four.

He came back from his second day today and told me about what he did. "We all lied down, and the teacher blew up a balloon. Then we boinked it around. Then we floated away in it."

"You floated away in it?" I asked.

"I think that was magic," he said.

Conversation

This weekend we went to Chardon to attend an outdoor wedding! After the ceremony, Eddie and I were walking around the grounds on our way to the party. We came across a little girl who was standing around while her parents were changing the diaper of her smaller sibling.  Eddie approached the girl and asked "What's your name?"

"I'm Carlie," she said. "I'm four."

"This is Eddie," I told her.

Eddie scuffed the ground for a minute, then thought of the tent we'd just walked past where the band had been playing. "Those music stands have music on them," he told Carlie.

"I'm going to preschool," she replied.

"I have a little brother," Eddie offered.

"Oh," she said. "There's that…person," she said, gesturing vaguely toward the one getting a change.

Swinging

Eddie's emerging portfolio

"Crooked man looking out the window of a crooked house"

"Dripping wall"

"Dripping wall"

"Flowers and windows"

"CN Tower"

"Sun"

The Artful Child

Eddie started going to a morning class with the Artful Child. He's gone three times and absolutely loves it. His teachers Maria and Ellie tell me that Eddie tries everything, focuses intently on each project, then moves quietly on to his next activity. It is a self-driven play time with snack, story, and song at the end. The teachers are exceptionally patient and loving and use their roles to simply guide exploration and encourage messiness. The pictures of the classroom show the endless opportunities. It seems fated that Eddie only has a little bit of time here before he goes to kindergarten, but I think these two weeks will have a lasting impact on him.

The tall tower of boxes behind the easel is the kids' house/hotel/city. It's probably ancient and they are free to paint it whenever they want.

Since this was Eddie's first activity where he'd be dropped off, it was planned for me to hang around the first day to calm any anxiety. There was none. This picture was taken about 20 minutes after he walked in. He'd already done a puzzle, splashed in the water table, surveyed the room, and came back to paint. Here Ellie's demonstrating using a roller which he used over a stencil. I took some pictures and left. He hasn't shown any anxiety at class and is only a little out of sorts at night.

He calls this the ocean table.

Trains.

Dresser of blocks, large painting and puzzle table, small play dough table in the back corner.

Drawing!

Eddie has recently started drawing figures. Here he does his favorite composition (he's repeated it a few times): a moon, a sleeping guy flat on the ground, and a giant with a big head.


Here's another drawing of the same scene from the next day. This time the sleeping guy is flat along the bottom, with his head coming up.

And here is another drawing. Eddie explained that it is "A guy with three eyes. An alien! And three legs. Four legs!"

Bananas

This morning, Eddie and I got a bunch of bananas at a fruit store, and Eddie said that he wanted to carry the bag. So I gave them to him, and he said "I have lots of muscles, so I can carry these!" He then kept up a running commentary, as we walked along, about how many muscles he has.

We went into a couple of stores to get milk (the first store was out). As we went through the second store, I heard a bit of Eddie's monologue: "I don't have too many muscles..."

Tell me a story

Nonno post-visit post (from Termoli, Italy, the day after he left Eddie sleeping in the car at the Toronto airport):

"Tell me a story!" has been Eddie's mantra for awhile, uttered whenever there is a lull in the daily adventures, for instance when he's using the potty and doesn't want to waste precious minutes just sitting there.

Yesterday we went back to a nice little restaurant called The Butler's Pantry, on Roncy (in Toronto) for lunch.  Vincent was introduced to pita bread and hummus, and he scarfed it down like a pro, chewing and gumming those pita wedges as if his Mediterranean genes had finally gotten loose: Ahh, finally something to sink our teeth (both of them) into!

When mamma took Vinci to the bathroom to clean him off, nonno jumped the gun and said to Eddie, "Tell me a story!"  And Eddie quickly retorted, "No, you tell me a story!"  The commands were lobbied back and forth for some time, with increasing vehemence.  Finally nonno offered a deal: "OK, first you tell me a story, and then I will listen to YOU tell ME a story."   Eddie, either missing the trap or undaunted by it, agreed.

Eddie: Once upon a time there was an old woman who was very hungry.  She went to a restaurant and ate lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots--pause for breath--and lots and lots and lots and lots of food.  Then she got a tummy ache.  The end.  OK, now you tell me a story.

Nonno (violating the terms of the deal): Once upon a time, in a forest far, far away lived a panda . .

Eddie (a very demanding narratological connoisseur with exacting standards): NO! Not about a panda!  About nonno!  (Many of nonno's stories are about a brave night named Sir Eddie and his valiant steed Silver, who, occasionally with the help of Odd Job Bob, rescue nonno and/or grandma Subie and their trusty but sometimes foolish dog Basic from many catastrophes.)

Nonno: Well, the panda WAS nonno.

E, incredulous: No, he wasn't!

N, insistent and emphatic: Yes, he was.  Don't you want to hear how and why?

E, graciously accommodating: OK.

N: Nonno ate too much and got very fat, and so he turned into a panda and had to live in a bamboo forest in China.  He was lonely there and missed grandma Subie and Basic, and his son and daughter-in-law, and most of all he missed his grandsons, Eddie and Vinci.  So, he asked a wise owl what he could do to become human again, so that he could turn back to plain old nonno and see all his loved ones again.  The owl said, "You have to lose weight."  How?  By eating less, and by not eating junk food that tastes good but doesn't have much nutrition.  So, nonno-panda stopped eating candy, and cookies, and ice cream . . .

Eddie, horrified: NOOOH!  NOT ICE CREAM!

Nonno relented, conceding that life without ice cream would indeed be a worse fate than perpetual pandahood, and went on to tell how the panda then ate the good food he got for breakfast, lunch, and supper, instead of always asking for sweet snacks between meals and then refusing to eat the good, nutritious food provided at regular meals.  And so, he lost weight, became human again and flew to Toronto so that he could tell Eddie more stories.  The end.

Eddie (for whom the end is always just a new beginning): Tell me another story!

Hands up!

Nonno post: Yesterday Eddie accompanied his mother to a nearby health and natural food store, where they also had a bin of Gummy Bears (health food?).  When Eddie saw the bin, he stopped in front of it and exclaimed, "That's what I wanted my whole life!"  He got toothpaste instead--apparently what mommy wanted him to have his whole life.

This morning Eddie and papa were in the bathroom.  Vincent, who likes to be wherever the action is and now crawls like greased lightning, headed their way, at which point we hear Eddie announcing in a loud voice, "Oh, oh, here comes trouble!"  We decided that Vinci's device should be, Here comes trouble with a smile!

Vincent has mastered the art of waving hi and goodbye on demand, or as the occasion requires, or whenever his fancy takes him.  Yesterday, at the library, after a little boy in a pre-school group (all lassoed together like centipede feet) took a liking to him and talked to him and made funny faces.  Vincent smiled at him a lot and then waved for a long time when they were leaving.  At the supper table nonno sits across from him at the far end of the table and also likes to make faces and strange sounds at him, at all of which shenanigans Vinci smiles indulgently, showing both of his relatively new bottom teeth, and whenever nonno waves, Vincent waves back gleefully.  This evening nonno started bouncing up and down on his chair at some tune (or maybe just for the heck of it).  Vincent soon imitated him and started dancing his torso up and down.  So, we wondered if we could get him to wave and dance at the same time.  Sure enough, while still bouncing up and down nonno waved, and Vinci did the same, boogeying and waving with a big smile on his face.

Eddie has taken to asking who wants something or wants to do something and requiring us to raise our hands if we do.  Mommy made muffins this afternoon.  Eddie: "If you want a muffin, raise your hand!  Nonno, do you want a muffin?  Then raise your hand!"  After supper, nonno turned the tables and asked, "Who wants a fruit bowl?"  Mommy and papa raised their hands, but Eddie was preoccupied eating cherry and grape tomatoes and debating which were the smallest.  When nonno said, "I guess Eddie doesn't want fruit," he soon tuned in and raised his hand.  Then we looked over at Vincent at the other hand of the table, and he had his hand raised way up high too.

And, yes, he did get some fruit.  He is eating solid food now: cheerios, fruit cut up in small pieces, mashed potatoes at lunch today.  It started a week or so ago, when Anne made chili.  They had him try just a little taste, expecting him to spit it out.  Instead he gobbled it up and begged for more, scarfing it all down voraciously: sauce, meat, beans, and everything.  He now eats with his high chair pulled up to the family table.  The only problem is that he is a champion climber and occasionally climbs up on the table to reach something that the others are eating that looks tastier than what they foist off on him.

First tooth

Vincent's first tooth started to show today! It is a bottom front tooth; just the edge is visible through his gum.

He started babbling a lot more last week, making sounds like "Baba" or "dado" and so on.

He also started puffs and mum-mums—his first foods that need chewing! He's been doing a great job. Yesterday, when he had picked up all the puffs on his tray, he said "All done"—at least, that's what Papa heard!

Cracking wise

Nonno post: Eddie was fiddling with a screw-type nut cracker when he noticed flies, or bugs as he calls them, buzzing around the house.  So he holds out the nut cracker invitingly and says, "Bugs, fly in here and I crack you."

When papa points out that the most difficult part of his project is to get the flies to obey the command, he turns to the one that must be obeyed and implores, "Mama!"

Pulling up

Today, Vincent pulled up on the sofa to stand on his feet, all by himself! (He was trying to chew on his brother's magazines.)

Brotherly empathy

Eddie was sitting at his little red table while Vincent started pulling up on the table leg. Suddenly, Vincent flung an arm out dramatically, leaned his head way back, slowly toppled over, and started crying. Eddie looked down and observed this, then looked up at me. "I didn't do anything to him," he reported.

Meanwhile, it seems like Vincent's first word might be "Eddie." He's made pretty clear "Eh-dee" sounds several times now (sometimes while drooling on one of Eddie's things.) Papa has mixed feelings about this.

Food sticks

Eddie had a ketchup packet we picked up at a burger truck. He decided he wanted to put it on some food. "What can I put it on?" he wondered.
"What do you think?" I asked.
"Hmm. I know! I will put it on sticks!"
"Sticks? Sticks aren't food!" I told him.
"Not sticks. Food sticks!"
"What are food sticks? Fish sticks?"
"No, not fish sticks. Food sticks."
I thought for a minute. "Do you mean French fries?"
"Yes!" said Eddie. "That's right. French fries are food sticks!"

PS: Reading this later, the dialog sounds un-natural, but this is actually the way Eddie was talking then.

Eddie on sharing

At the playground, Eddie and I had a conversation about Vincent's newfound mobility.

"He likes to chew your toys," I noted.

"But he can't do that!" Eddie declared.

"You have lots of toys," I told him. "You have to share with him."

Eddie seemed unconvinced.

"Do you like to share?" I asked.

"Yes, I like to share lots of things!" he said.

"Good!" I said. "Sharing makes us happy."

Eddie expanded on what he enjoys sharing. "I like to share Luke's toys!"

Vincent on the move

After batting the ball, Vincent decides to head towards some things Eddie had made out of his magnet tiles. Eddie set up several boxes containing toy cars, and a Christmas-tree-shaped thing, last night, and said it was his "morning Christmas" that he was leaving out to find in the morning. Vincent got up before he did, and was intent on demolishing the Christmas before Eddie got up.

Playing in the crib

Transcript:

I will let—the big one! I will let the big one in here.
It's crooked to Vincent. Ha hah.
The big one is here to protect you!
It does protect […] you.
You have a dirty chin!
You've got stuff […]
(Sigh)
Heyyyy
／
Vincent is down! Vincent goed down, he did.
I'm going to step over here, hee hee.
Ohh.
I sitting by Vincent, Mama.
I'm going to sing, sing, sing.
Sing, sing—

Night owl

Apparently, sometime after he was put to bed, Eddie decided that he'd turn the light on in his room and have a party night reading books and playing with toys.

When we found him, he was totally zonked out.

The worstest

Eddie and Vincent were both sitting on my lap when Eddie announced "Vincent is the worstest baby ever!"

"What did he do?" I asked. "Did he pull on your ear?"

"Yeah," said Eddie. "And it was all slobbery!"

I guess Eddie got his first wet willy.

Dogs and cats

Eddie stood grimly at the playground listening to a dog bark. Then he asked if we could go to a cat shop, get a cat, and take it home with us.

Money

Eddie got down our piggy bank and took out some coins to put into a coin purse he has.  He did this for a while, then closed up the piggy bank and put it away. Then he approached Papa with an idea.

"Papa, I will use the coins for money and I will pay my money for toys. Lots and lots of toys—all the toys."

I said, "That's a good idea. But the problem is, that's not your money. It's Mama and Papa's money!"

Eddie rejoined "It's the family's money."

I assented to this.

He said "So it's my money too!"

Measurement

Eddie is carrying around measuring tape, offering to measure everybody. Then he solemnly announces "You are 4 inches feet long."

Playing school