Christmas

Eddie had a lot of fun on Christmas. As he got up, he said "Tree, tree." He found the presents under the tree and was very excited. He wasn't to touch them until after breakfast when everyone had gotten ready (he was the first kid up), but he kept poking at them and testing the limits. After breakfast, he ran back saying "Presents! Presents!"

Eddie got lots of fun things that he liked playing with: a big doodle pad, lots of books to read, some animal magnets, and stickers. He especially liked playing with the other kids' toys.

In the afternoon Uncle Bo arrived along with even more children and some more presents, which were in shiny paper in a big pile. When Eddie noticed them, he giggled so high and loud it was basically a squeal. Eddie and Stephen stood side by side contemplating the glorious sight. Then Eddie, without taking his eyes off the presents, put his arm out and pushed Stephen away. I guess he's a two-year-old.  (Eddie's been pushing Stephen several times. Stephen usually doesn't get upset, I guess because he's used to worse, but sometimes he says "Don't push! Don't push!")

Then Eddie ran in circles around the house saying "Uncle Bo! Uncle Bo!" until he got up on Uncle Bo's lap, showing him his stickers and then sitting there a long time watching the other kids playing.

Basic

Eddie liked playing with his grandparents' dog, Basic. They would run around, and Eddie would tell her to drop her toy and then throw it for her (about a foot) and she would get it. She was very gentle with him, and careful not to jump on him, even though she jumps on everybody else!

Everyone corrected Basic a lot around Eddie, so he learned to do that. Whenever he saw her he would point his finger admonishingly and say "NO!" in his most stentorian voice, even though she wasn't doing anything. Poor Basic! He also learned to tell her to sit. He'd say "Sit! No!" even though she'd sat very nicely. Once he ran up while she was napping, whacked her and said "Stop!" Basic put up with all this with supercanine patience. Eddie also learned to say "Nice doggie" and pet her.

Sometimes Basic would chew something she wasn't supposed to (one if the main things Eddie saw her being corrected for.) One she chewed up the base of a wooden Nutcracker statuette. Later, Eddie found it, and apparently sussed out what had happened. He picked it up and said "Noo!" Then he ran over to Basic to point at her accusingly and say "No! No! Eddie's! Eddie's!"
Basic looked appropriately cowed. He's definitely picked up on ownership lately. When he picks up Mommy's or Daddy's books or clothes, he says "Mama's" or "Papa's", and a lot of things are "Eddie's."

Basic and Eddie were great pals. This morning, a couple days after we left, Eddie got up saying "Dog, dog, dog, Basic, Basic, Basic."

Guest blog by Grandmom Subie

A ray of sunshine in snowy Oxford Ohio: Eddie is in town!  His vocabulary is growing daily, with one of his latest discoveries being "Help, please."  Since we all want to encourage such a polite boy, he gets whatever he wants when he says that!
Basic the dog seems to think Eddie needs protection.  When Eddie is closed in a room with his parents, noisily getting diaper changes or being comforted when over-tired, Basic alternately looks alertly at the door, whines, or otherwise tries to get grandparental attention: surely some kind of abuse is going on, and she wants us to go rescue the baby from these nefarious doings.  Basic is pretty sure these people (Kolya and Anne) are not to be trusted with such a sweet boy!
Eddie likes Basic, too.  He says "Drop!" in a way that Basic sometimes recognizes, so that she drops her toy, which Eddie then throws for her to fetch.  What a pair!

Working on legos

Eddie can spend hours working with his toddler legos. Here he is a few weeks ago.

Guitar Dancing in Maryland

Feats

We took Eddie along to Whole Foods the other day, afoot. He walked through the aisles pointing at things and naming them. He saw some grapes and said "gapes"; he saw some apples and said "appos"; he saw some tomatoes and said "tomt"; he saw a guy shopping and said "man!" (pointing at him.)

I had to confirm things before we moved on: "Yes, those are grapes! Yes, those are apples! Yes, those are tomatoes! Yes, that's a man!"

He had a really good time, except when he found the toy section and then didn't want to leave; he was upset that we had to move on. But he got over it.

There's a new playground nearby (well, almost a mile away) in the Navy Yard: the Mayor Menino Park. We went to check it out. Eddie walked the whole way! He said "hi" to people we met and pointed out that they have doggies (in case they hadn't realized.) There's a closer playground that we go to in the Navy Yard, and even though we were going a different way this time, he knew when we should be turning to get to that one. He stopped and pointed the way we should turn. I told him "We're going this way, this time." He seemed pretty dubious about that, but let himself be convinced.

He was carrying a rock that he picked up on our front walk, but it was pretty cold and I put his mittens on. After that he was having trouble keeping hold on the rock, and he asked me for help. I showed him how to put it in his coat pocket, and he was really pleased with this. "Pocket! Ha-ha!" he shouted. He has come to the realization of how great pockets are for someone who wants to carry around every portable thing he can find!

Toward the end, he was really slowing down to look at every drainpipe and sign, and it was taking forever. I wasn't entirely sure if we were heading the right way myself, but then I heard some squealing children. Then I said "Do you want to go to a playground?!" and Eddie said "Yes" in his most emphatic voice. We covered the rest of that block in a fraction of the time!

It's a pretty sweet playground! It's still under construction on the outskirts; it juts out into the harbor and they're extending the harborwalk around it. There were cool bells and musical things. Up on the play structure there were a couple of periscopes which let you look across the harbor at Boston. As Eddie trundled through I said "Hey Eddie, what's that?" to get him to check it out, but some older kids (6?) were running by just then, heard me, and looked at them. "Oh wow this is epic!" one said. "Guys! Guys! You have to see this!" They shouted until all their friends came and looked, and there was a lot of hubbub for a few minutes. Eddie just stood and watched until they had all run off. When he finally had it to himself, he went up and put his face to it and said "Guys!"

Artists at work