ok, I promised happy and fun
And our DangerBoy is frequently both!
I am realizing that with age and wisdom, DangerBoy is not necessarily the most accurate name, but it's silly to keep changing. He is actually FollowingRulesLad at this point, and dutifully stays on the sidewalk (and objects when characters in books do not), mostly keeps out of puddles without his boots on, gravely informs me that we do not play with outlets or fire extinguishers, etc. He tried to climb the bookshelf today, but that's just what you do with bookshelves.
Anyway, he turned two last month. It's been a while since I mentioned anything about him, but good grief, that boy can talk. And when he isn't playing shy around other people, he usually does. He began putting two words together in June, realized he could string more a week later, and hasn't looked back. Granted, he only became generally intelligible to people outside of his immediate family over the past couple of months, but he can hold conversations on his own with strangers at the bus stop now. He is currently wrestling with pronouns, and will use i/you/me/my in the same sentence as each other to refer to himself.
He is also a terribly polite lad. We have been making an effort to be terribly polite around the house, and he picked up "thank you" over the spring. He started to use it when giving an object to another person, but has mostly figured out that he says it when receiving an object now (it's confusing who he thinks says it when someone performs a beneficial action, like fixing a train track). This confusion over who says a polite phrase seems pretty general: he says "avessyu" (bless you) when he sneezes, is just getting out of saying "sorry" when he gets hurt, and "swears" when I am exasperated with him. Our careful program of not cussing in front of him has evidently been a success, as when I'm angry at him he gleefully shouts "For pete's sake!" or "For love of bunnies!" He does really like ritualized settings where he knows the polite thing to say to people, as he enjoys thanking people in restaurants or shops. Sometimes it's all anticipation ("I say thank you to the lady for making food") with no actual payoff, as he is too excited or shy to actually talk to the person themselves. This sort of goes with his tendency to have conversations with other toddlers through adults, as when chenoameg's toddler was over the other day and he kept turning to me and saying "I ask Smiles for the whisk" and "I tell Smiles go to grocery store" instead of addressing Smiles herself. This might be perfectly normal behavior for his age. He also enjoys situations where he has carefully rehearsed a line in his head to deliver, like "Can I have a sticker please?" at the post office.
Also, he was a tiger for Halloween. He finds unusual events like trick or treating or birthday parties interesting, but weird enough that he is adamant about accepting on them on his own terms, not theirs. Another child had a birthday party at his school and he was apparently freaked out by the lights being turned out for the candles, and was insistent at his own birthday events that the lights remain on, and also that he would not wear a crown (as they did at school). He also declared, the week before Halloween, that he was going to dress up as a tiger, only "I do not want a tail. I do not want ears. I do not want to wear a mask." He never vetoed stripes, though, so a tiger he successfully was.
More later. In the meantime:
The tiger, ready for the hunt:
At a playground (the sticker acquired from our soon-to-close local post office says "Junior Postmaster"):
At the cookie bakery, where he likes ginger, shortbread, and saying "Thank you for making the cookies":
I am realizing that with age and wisdom, DangerBoy is not necessarily the most accurate name, but it's silly to keep changing. He is actually FollowingRulesLad at this point, and dutifully stays on the sidewalk (and objects when characters in books do not), mostly keeps out of puddles without his boots on, gravely informs me that we do not play with outlets or fire extinguishers, etc. He tried to climb the bookshelf today, but that's just what you do with bookshelves.
Anyway, he turned two last month. It's been a while since I mentioned anything about him, but good grief, that boy can talk. And when he isn't playing shy around other people, he usually does. He began putting two words together in June, realized he could string more a week later, and hasn't looked back. Granted, he only became generally intelligible to people outside of his immediate family over the past couple of months, but he can hold conversations on his own with strangers at the bus stop now. He is currently wrestling with pronouns, and will use i/you/me/my in the same sentence as each other to refer to himself.
He is also a terribly polite lad. We have been making an effort to be terribly polite around the house, and he picked up "thank you" over the spring. He started to use it when giving an object to another person, but has mostly figured out that he says it when receiving an object now (it's confusing who he thinks says it when someone performs a beneficial action, like fixing a train track). This confusion over who says a polite phrase seems pretty general: he says "avessyu" (bless you) when he sneezes, is just getting out of saying "sorry" when he gets hurt, and "swears" when I am exasperated with him. Our careful program of not cussing in front of him has evidently been a success, as when I'm angry at him he gleefully shouts "For pete's sake!" or "For love of bunnies!" He does really like ritualized settings where he knows the polite thing to say to people, as he enjoys thanking people in restaurants or shops. Sometimes it's all anticipation ("I say thank you to the lady for making food") with no actual payoff, as he is too excited or shy to actually talk to the person themselves. This sort of goes with his tendency to have conversations with other toddlers through adults, as when chenoameg's toddler was over the other day and he kept turning to me and saying "I ask Smiles for the whisk" and "I tell Smiles go to grocery store" instead of addressing Smiles herself. This might be perfectly normal behavior for his age. He also enjoys situations where he has carefully rehearsed a line in his head to deliver, like "Can I have a sticker please?" at the post office.
Also, he was a tiger for Halloween. He finds unusual events like trick or treating or birthday parties interesting, but weird enough that he is adamant about accepting on them on his own terms, not theirs. Another child had a birthday party at his school and he was apparently freaked out by the lights being turned out for the candles, and was insistent at his own birthday events that the lights remain on, and also that he would not wear a crown (as they did at school). He also declared, the week before Halloween, that he was going to dress up as a tiger, only "I do not want a tail. I do not want ears. I do not want to wear a mask." He never vetoed stripes, though, so a tiger he successfully was.
More later. In the meantime:
The tiger, ready for the hunt:
At a playground (the sticker acquired from our soon-to-close local post office says "Junior Postmaster"):
At the cookie bakery, where he likes ginger, shortbread, and saying "Thank you for making the cookies":