Kenneth's Milestones Year 3

8/22/02 So, now that a couple of days have passed, the Spanish is coming out. At lunch today he asked us for the translation of 3 phrases, "Buenas Dias," "Como Esta," and one other one I didn't understand. I guess one day in Spanish Preschool was a good start.

8/22/03 He mastered the button on his plush Easter egg, now he can both button and unbutton it.

8/20/03 Kenneth explained to me today why he keeps saying "amn't" He told me, "When I say 'I' I say "amn't" when I say 'we' I say 'aren't'" He was using good logic to correct my "incorrect" usage of "aren't"

8/18/03 First day of Spanish Preschool, Mommy cried, but Kenneth did great. Daddy went with us to drop off and pick up.

8/16/03 After dinner, I told Kenneth I was going to go start his bathwater. He turned to Michael and said, "In the meantime let's sit and talk about Magnetic Town" It cracked us both up!

8/13/03 "This horse is different from Charlie's horse, this horse is standing absolutely stock still, but Charlie's horse is walking."

8/8/03 Looked at Michael's truck as he returned from the airport and said, "Daddy, the middle of your wheel is missing." sure enough, the very center of the hubcap had fallen off of one of the wheels. Very observant.

8/7/03 Conversation:
Kenneth: When the baby comes, you can drink wine!"
Mom: And I just might!
Kenneth: Umm Hmm and you might drink beer too!
Clever child!

8/7/03 A pun, we were reading "Magic Schoolbus Explores the Senses" and came to a diagram of the skin including a pore. he laughed and said, "Poor pore!"

8/7/03 Word Play - "We feed eagles bagels"

8/6/03 We were talking about making his birthday cake round like a ball and decorated like Jupiter in keeping with the space theme. He got a very concerned look on his face and said, "I want a flat cake, because a round cake will roll away and get icing on the floor!"

8/03 We've been trying to prepare him for starting preschool at the Spanish Schoolhouse. We explained that he would go by himself. One day he asked me to get his tricycle out of the garage, which surprised me because he really takes very litle interest in it. I obliged and he puttered around the driveway for a few minutes, not making much more progress than he has at other times on it. Finally, he frowned and said, "Mommy, when I go to the Spanish Schoolhouse, you'll have to take me in the car." Bless his heart, I guess he thought he was going to have to GET THERE by himself!

8/1/03 When we discovered a tiny lizard in our living room, he was fascinated, the lizard ran up the chimney and out of site. Kenneth commented that he was "just like Bill." Yes, in fact, Bill the Lizard goes down the chimney in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

At target we were purchasing juice boxes for his playgroup. Some of the boxes were Kool-Aid and had the Kool-Aid guy on them. He asked me, "who is that?" I told him, "That's the Kool-Aid guy." He asked, "What does he do?" I laughed and said, "Well, he used to crash through the wall and yell "HEY KOOL-AID" and bring Kool-Aid to cool everyone off when they are thirsty." He didn't say anything else, we went through the checkout and paid for our purchases and were on our way out to the car when he said, "I don't want my wall crashed." 7/28/03

7/29/03 Kept singing, "The sun goes down and moon comes up." I didn't know the song so I asked him where he had heard it. He said, "from Tony and Irma." I called to verify, sure enough, they said they were guilty.

7/31/03 Read all of Troupe's Birthday party invitation to me except the part that was hand written.

His favorite new phrase is, "I dare say…" for example, "I dare say, that's a front end loader." etc. hilarious! 7/9/03

7/8/03 Decided he liked being called mischevious after Miss Mary Pat called him that. He even told the waitress at Chili's, "I'm mischevious!" with a big grin on his face. He also told her, "I have bones inside me."

7/7/03

7/7/03 Enthusiastically answered Miss Christy's question at Kindermusik, "Does anyone know what a sailor is?" to which he replied, "He's a guy who drives a boat!"

7/1/03 At Home Depot he asked me to read the "WARNING" and "DANGER" labels off of the big riding lawn mower he likes to play on. When I read "Danger" he said, "but 'G' says 'guh.' I acknowledged that sometimes 'G' says "juh." He looked doubtful.

7/1/03 Has applied his "button" notion to other areas, sometimes he pushes the "minute" button when he doesn't want to do something right away, and yesterday he pushed the "I-don't-want-to-go-to-Home-Depot button."

7/1/02 Asked me if I had several other books for him to read to me, actually requested them.

6/30/03 Is really struggling with his new dresser and the changes he must be anticipating with the impending new arrival. He says he wants to sleep in the crib and wants to "smack down" his new dresser and get the changing table back.

6/30/03 Read "Sam and Al" to me in its entirety. When he got to the words "on" and "for" which were exceptions to the short "a" sounds predominate in the book he said, "I was surprised by the "ah's!" (short o sound).

6/30/03 He noticed several of the words on the stencils on Tuney's wall and read them to me. "a," "the," etc. stuff we've learned about through Phonics Pathways

6/30/03 I was showing him pictures of our house in Washington and the home improvement projects we did there. He looked at one of me prying up rotting floor boards and I told him I was working on the floor. He said, "I think perhaps the floor is rather dirty."

6/25/03 Read "Max the Cat" to me, in it's entirety. Then he earned a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle which he worked with minimal assisstance from me.

6/24/03 Regarding his middle name, which he was observing on his name puzzle he said, "If it had two O's it would be Roobert." True!

6/24/03 "I'm going to sit with Mommy, because Mommy is the best!" in the morning when we both came into his room as he woke up.

6/20/03 He was bouncing up and down on the way to the car after dinner at the Blue Mesa, very excited to be going to Lake Shore Learning. Michael said, "Man, you are stoked!" and Kenneth replied, "Yes indeed I am stoked! What does stoked mean?"

6/19/03 Independently completed a 60 piece jigsaw puzzle right out of the box.

6/15/03 He wanted to give Michael his Father's Day present himself. He asked me what it was, so I told him. It was in a gift sack, which he dragged down the hall and presented to Michael. Michael said, "I wonder what it is." Kenneth cheerfully replied, "It's socks and a book!"

6/15/03 At a Father's Day celebration Kenneth recalled that "Elizabeth threw the green ball to me, and Elizabeth's boy's name was 'Joe'" from over a year ago when Michael's cousins were in town for Memorial Day last summer.

6/15/03 Kept insisting that the polyurethane floor finish "tasted" bad, we know he meant smell.

6/15/03 "If Shelby were a Cheshire Dog, the she would talk."

6/03 Invented the imaginary "quiet button" which he pushes when things get to noisy to suit him.

6/11/03 Looked at "Wal Mart" and said "It should be "Wal Mart" because a says a" using a short "a" sound as in hat.

Invented a game in which he reverses the syllables of words, particularly names, so he is "Nethken" I am "Meemom" Brenna is "Nabren" etc. He just giggles away. 6/03

Asked, "What does timid mean" 6/10/03

6/10/03 Made a pun pun, saying "I can only eat the pun" of his hamburger

Argues with me about things that are most definitely not true. For example, he insists that Manatees must be related to seals even though the library book we checked out clearly stated that they are relatives of elephants. Okay, whatever! 6/5/03

6/4/03 He hung over the shoulder of a little girl at the library and tried to tell her how to work her puzzle. I had to apologize and drag him away.

6/4/03 He talks like a book while he plays, saying;
"'Really!!??' Bob the Tomato said.
"Oh yes!" exclaimed Madame Blueberry as she wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her hand.
'I didn't know that!' replied Bob."

6/3/03 He got in trouble at playgroup for knocking a toy out of Charlie's hand. I honestly thought he was trying to hit Charlie, but he really was just trying to get the toy back, still not acceptable, but not as bad as whacking his friend! He was overly tired, for which I blame myself.

6/2/03 He was saying something silly and I told him it was nonsense, which happens to be his new favorite word. He replied, giggling, "No, it's not! It's Yessense!"

Over the weekend of 5/30/03 we read "Charlotte's Web" to him in its entirety and have begun "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." He's loving it and begs for more.

5/23/03 "Mommy, can you say, 'I need a hug!' in a quavery voice?"

5/22/03 "What does alley mean?" "Well, that was a malfunction!"

5/20/03 Making an inference from information he gathered from his books on the solar system he told me at breakfast, " Jupiter has more gravity than Pluto, and Jupiter is made of gas and Pluto would fit inside it." Then he asked me, "How many gravities does Jupiter have?"

5/18/02 Came into the kitchen after lunch and said, "Daddy, when you're done with the dishes, will you help me with the sports car?" He wanted to work on his pattern blocks.

5/15/03 Made up a song, "A is for Apatosaurus, B is for Brachiosaurus…"

5/14/03 I was trying to read something and had set him up with an art project hoping he would stay busy long enough for me to finish the article. However, he repeatedly interrupted me, asking for help. I was getting impatient and had read the same paragraph about 3 times. I got a little stern with him and told him I would help him when I was done. He said, "Mommy, please stop using your angry words." Okay, that crushed me.

5/14/03 "The mouse said, 'I want to sign my name with a pen' very squeakily."

5/14/03 "Mouses don't live on farms because they live in houses in foundations."

5/13/03 Read from Bob's Books to me today, "A big cat at the zoo had a bad leg. The vet had to fix the cat. The cat ran. The vet ran. Yes, yes, the cat can run."

5/12/03 Has started seeing pictures in the clouds everytime we go out. On the way to the library last night he saw an alligator, a panther, a rhinoceros, a giraffe and a chipmunk.

5/6/03 We were eating hamburgers (Garden Burgers, actually) and he picked up a bite, looked at it closely and asked, "where's the ham?"

In the bathtub tonight he asked me "who is on Thursdays?" Well, I thought he meant "what is on Thursdays" and was just using the wrong interrogative pronoun so I answered, "Kindermusik" to which he replied, "Kindermusik is not a person!" Well, I guess he wasn't confused after all! 5/1/03

In a conversation about different colors of jelly being different flavors (red is strawberry, purple is grape) he said, "would you like some green cucumber jelly or is that too yucky to eat?" Too yucky for this pregnant mom! 5/1/03

5/1/03 At Kindermusik today he nearly ran into Owen, afterwards he came up to me and said, "That was a near collision!"

At breakfast he used a new cup with Pooh on it, I asked him, "who's on your cup?" He replied, "It's Pooh, he's trying to get honey, but Christopher Robin isn't there. He's going to help him when he gets back. They will go to the honey store and get more honey, then Pooh will sit down in the sun and eat his honey with a spoon so his hands don't get all honeyey. He has a useful pot." 5/1/03

He was telling me that baby Andrew is a boy, and Baby Colin is a boy, but that baby Madelyn is a girl. I acknowledged as much and then added that Riley has a baby brother too, and that his name is Cooper. We talked about how Cooper was still in the hospital and it would be a while before we could see him and Kenneth said, "The other Cooper was drawing a 'Z'" remembering a video clip he watched of his online friend Cooper who had indeed been drawing a "Z"

4/03 Since acquiring his dictionary has taken an interest in parts of speech, presumably because I read the entire definition to him when we look something up, including telling him the part of speech. So we go from "what does 'catastrophe' mean?" to "what does 'noun' mean?"

4/30/03 in the bathtub he said, "where's the fish?" I hunted around under the bubbles and pulled out a large fish shaped pitcher. He said, "no, not that one, I'm looking for the fish that's small and hard." I knew immediately which one he meant, and he has quite a few fish in his bathtub.

4/30/03 Learned the Pledge of Allegiance

"what does 'hark' mean?" The old English nursery rhymes are rubbing off on him. 4/30/03

4/30/03 He has an old nursery rhyme book of mine we've been reading frequently lately. One of the poems is about a girl named Elsie Marley who stays in bed and won't get up to feed the swine. However, the illustration features a girl in bed with a dog pulling the blankets off of her. So, today, away from the book, actually, we were playing outside he said, "Swine is another word for "dog." I was impressed with his logical inference, even if it was an error.

4/30/03 While standing on our newly applied mulch in the flower bed he told me, "This is a map. I'm on the mulch mountain of the United States of Africa"

Looking at Irises in our front flower bed he said, "what's in there?" I answered, "pollen and stamens." He said, "Pollen and a sweet juice called nectar" then, with great drama and alarm, "The insects are coming to drink the nectar!" from his tone I was prepared for a plague of locusts to descend. 4/30/03

4/30/03 He tripped and fell and went head over heels out in the front yard, he didn't seem to be hurt but he stood up, looked back at where his feet had faltered and said, "I didn't know that was gonna happen!"

4/30/03 After several notifications, I made him get off the computer to come and eat lunch. While I was moving his chair from the computer to the table he flopped face down on the couch in despair. I picked him up and carried him to the table. He was actually quite distressed about lunch and sat in my lap while I ate as he was otherwise fairly inconsolable, he kept insisting that he was going to spit his food right out. He did eventually eat, but not before he told me, "It's sad when mothers take their children off of couches when they're sleeping!" Apparently this is a common injustice in the world. I'm glad I'm not alone in being so mean!

4/30/03 I was lying down with my herbal flax seed headache soother on my face while he romped around on the bed. I asked, "can I have a hug?" and held out my arms in the direction from which I could hear him. He answered, "not now, I'm busy." hrrmph!

4/29/03 Played at Barnes and Noble with the new trains, when a little girl picked up a train and handed it to him he said, "Thank you for sharing."

4/27/03 When Chyrstal arrived he ran down the hall with his arms stretched out squealing, she gave him a big hug then he said, "I squealed with delight!"

4/27/03 Just before we left, he was eating pineapple with Chrystal, our baby sitter, she said, "where did it go?" he answered, "Into my mouth, down a my esophagus and into my tummy. My esophogus is a little tube."

4/27/03 Put on a pair of gloves all by himself, both of them, all the fingers were in the right place.

4/24/03 Read the word "Acrosonic" on our piano.

4/21/03 Sounded out and read the word "Taco" on a Taco Bueno at the mall

4/20/03 Leaned across the table at dinner at Rockfish and said, "Tony, what does 'catastrophe' mean?"

4/11/03 We went to Target to do some shopping and I saw the rack of sunglasses and remembered that I had been meaning to get him a new pair. I found the rack of children's sunglasses and started turning it. I showed him Spider Man, "no." Scooby Doo, "no," Blue from Blues Clues? "no." Hot wheels? "No, I want the sparkly ones." So, I think to myself, ah yes, the sparkly ones are Barbie so I turn back to the Barbie sunglasses and I said, "these?" "yes." "How about the green ones?" "No, I want the sparkly pink ones." So, we are now the proud owners of sparkly pink six dollar Barbie sunglasses - Okay then.

4/11/03 Woke up after sleeping with his toy hippo, when I asked if they had a good night sleep, he said, "He wants to stand on the floor instead of the white sheet 'cause the floor is flat and on the bed he just knocks over and all I can see is his feet." Once on the floor he added, "This is a much better place to stand."

4/11/03 Invented a neat culinary treat - dips grapes in ketchup. Ugh.

4/10/03 put on his own shoes all by himself.

4/5/03 Although he was exhausted from our busy day at the ranch, when we came home he read 3 early readers in a row to me. "There is a Town," "Big Bear, Small Bear," and "The Lion and the Mouse."

4/5/03 He wanted to look at the security alarm sign in the flower bed at the ranch, It was octagonal and I think he expected it to say "stop" so he went around to the front to look at it, it actually says, "ADT" which, bless his heart he sounded out into a word, "aadt."

4/5/03 On the way to the ranch he asked me, "Mommy, what does topographical mean?" I explained it. Later, when we got to the ranch and I was retelling the story Irma asked him and he answered, "high and low." She was also quizzing him on the colors of things and she asked about some flowers in the flower bed. He answered, "magenta."

4/5/03 On the way to the ranch we stopped at a Mobil Station and I explained to him what Pegasus is, I told him flying horses are mythological and then explained that "mythological" was kind of like "pretend." He replied, "I had a mythological cookie at snack yesterday." He had made one out of playdough and put it on his plate alongside the real cookie.

4/4/03 We got out the Cuisenaire math rods and I started playing the first game with him. I asked him to sort all the rods by color, which he did. Then I said, "let's mess them up and then sort them into piles of all the same size." He looked at the piles of rods sorted by color and said, "I already did." Great! That was the point of the lesson!

4/4/03 at the breakfast table he said, "I'm making up poetry about Bandaids who get into trouble when they fly up into the air and other Bandaids come to help the children Bandaids."

4/3/03 In the bathtub he picked up his washcloth by one corner and held it up. He said, "It's the Eiffle Tower!"

4/2/03 We made a late night run to the grocery store and didn't bother putting shoes on Kenneth. When we got there he said to me, "you should have to carry me 'cause I don't have shoes."

4/1/03 Playing with his nesting/stacking wooden boxes he commented, "when you get them in the right wa they make air." They fit so snuggly you get a whoosh of air out the sides as you slide on into the other. Then, he stacked them all up from biggest to smallest to make a tower almost as tall as he is, the smallest box is actually pointed on top. He said, "It looks like a church." Then he sat down facing it and said, "I'm saying goodbye to Noni and the music is gonna come out of the pipes. I'm listening to the music." Bless his heart.

3/31/03 Played Uno for the first time. We played one game of 7 rounds, open hands. Although we guided him, asking him, "do you have a card you can play? Do you have a card that is green? Do you have a card that is a 7?" that sort of thing. He had no trouble with the concepts, and caught on quickly to the "S" card meaning "skip." The only problem we had was twice he didn't want to take his turn because he didn't want to give up any of his cards! We told him that this was a game and that he wanted to play it we could, but that we had to follow the rules. We just said, if you don't want to play we can put it away, but when you play a game you have to follow the rules. It worked and he chose a card to play and won the game, he even shouted, "Uno!" when he got down to one card and we asked him, "how many cards to you have? What do you say?" I think he would have played again, but we decided to quit while we were ahead. He seemed to enjoy it and did just fine. When he won, we both clapped and said, "yay!" He said, "people say "yay" at the end of kid's birthdays." True.

3/31/03 On the way home from the mall, where we had visited the Disney store, Kenneth said, "Piglet is a rabbit." I replied, "Piglet is a baby pig, he has long ears though, doesn't he?" Kenneth said, "Pigs have short ears, and snouts and live on farms. Piglet has long ears and a nose and lives in a tree." I said, "Yes, pigs are pink and piglet is pink, right? He must be a different sort of pig."

3/27/03 Is sounding out simple CVC words. I typed them into the computer screen and he was able to sound out every one that I gave him. The next day, on Friday, he showed daddy by reading the word "tag."

3/25/03 Can tell time by the house on an analog clock.

3/23/03 Lazy Sunday morning, the whole family was in our bed clowning around. We were just hanging out relaxing. Kenneth decided he was hungry and asked to have jelly beans for breakfast. I launched into a long winded explanation about how jelly beans make a fine treat, but they aren't good for breakfast because they aren't very nutritious. I explained that we need to eat nutritious food for breakfast so that we can grow big and strong. He frowned, but did not immediately respond. Several minutes later, after other unrelated discussions, he said, "I want to be small. I want to eat jelly beans and be small."

3/23/03 Kenneth had been looking at some construction equipment themed stencils in a stencil catalog while he ate his snack, much later, at lunch time, he was back at the table and the stencil catalog was still there. He started opening it up and said, "Let me go back to where I was, let's see, where was I before?" very amusing.

3/24/03 Michael was getting coffee out of the freezer this morning and Kenneth could feel the cold air falling (our freezer is on the bottom). Kenneth asked, "where is that cold air coming from?" Michael said, "from the freezer." Kenneth said, "I need a Cold Elmo" (an icepack with Elmo on it for injuries) Michael, still digging in the freezer with his back turned to Kenneth says, "no you don't, you don't have an injury."… THUD! "now I do."

"Giant is much bigger than big." 3/24/03

3/21/03 Is definitely jumping with two feet now. (At last!)

I was listening in on the monitor this morning and he started chattering away, "Itsy Bitsy Spider said, 'no! don't wash me out! I just want to climp up!" 3/20/03

At a small play gathering today, another child tried to take a toy from him, he said, "No, please don't do that!" I couldn't have been more proud. 3/20/03

Made a joke, he said, "That's not a saurus, Not Anatasaurus" 3/20/03

3/17/03 announced to us this morning, "I'm a teeny tiny omnivore!" then he wanted to go outside to play - it was 7:00 am, so I told him we would have breakfast first and then go out after it warmed up a bit. He was desperately wanting to play with his new sand toys he got as party favors from Madelyn's birthday party yesterday. When I told him he would have to wait he said, "oh no, that is not a good option at all!"

3/14/03 Kenneth told me his first real joke this morning, a knock knock joke. I have absolutely not the slightest clue where he learned it. It went like this:
Kenneth: knock knock
Julie: who's there?
Kenneth: catch!
Julie: catch who?
Kenneth: bless you!

Fun new vocabulary, "peer, boulder, troubled," 3/13/03

3/13/03 Kenneth is very excited about the eventual arrival of "Tuney" but he will not hear of it being a girl. I say, "Where's Tuney?" and he says, "In your tummy!" I say, "Is Tuney a boy or a girl?" he says, "a boy!" I say, "but what if he's a girl." and Kenneth says, "no no NO! I want a baby brother just like Charlie!"

3/12/03 Read his first book, "Pat the Cat" read all the big words, one per page all by himself.

3/12/03 We finally resorted to taking Kenneth's fork away when he wouldn't stop banging it on the table at dinner. He begged and pleaded to have it back, but we remained firm. Michael reminded him that he needed to listen to directions and obey the first time, so Kenneth replied, "I want to do it the first time now!" Michael and I tried to bite our lips to keep from laughing.

3/12/03 at the breakfast table he assigned roles to each of us; he was the ankylosaurus, Daddy was the duck-billed dinosaur and I was the Tyrannosaurus Rex. In keeping with my role, I said, "I do believe I've found a snack, I'm going to eat you up little ankylosaurus!" Kenneth pointed to Michael and said, "no! he is your snack!" we couldn't help but laugh.

3/12/03 When I came into the kitchen this morning he said, "Oh! my soft Mommy" and gave me a big hug, then he said, "Is it hard work to make a baby?" I said, "yes, it can be." he said, "Maybe I could help you!" so sweet and cute.

3/7/03 He wet the bed last night (hasn't done it since November) and woke up saying, "Can you get me some dry jammers? It seems to me these are the wrong sort of jammers." While Michael helped me get him dressed he said, "it's nice to have a Mommy and a Daddy!"

2/27/03 Correctly said there were 4 Trucks in a Dodge Truck Booklet without counting them. Then he sounded out the word "Dodge" and read the sentence "Dodge Can Go." as "Dodge Go."

Colored his nose and cheeks with markers 2/24/03

2/11/03 Playing at his friend Riley's house for playgroup. He had been watching the girls playing with the sit-and-spin earlier, and then, after lunch he approached it to check it out. One of the other kids saw where he was going and intercepted. After parental intervention, we made sure Kenneth got his turn on it. He was spinning gleefully and said to me, "No one was taking any notice of this, so I thought I could have a turn." I assured him that yes, that was absolutely right, and that he was entitled to his turn. He loved it. We might have to get him one.

2/6/03 I was talking with Kenneth over breakfast, explaining to him that today was Daddy's birthday and that we would be calling him later to sing happy birthday to him. I asked him if he remembered helping Daddy open packages at his birthday last year. I reminded him that he sat right here at the table and helped Daddy. He said, "yes, there were two presents, one had a red ribbon and one had a purple ribbon." absolutely correct - one year later! He also sang Happy Birthday to Daddy over the phone, very sweet. It got Daddy all choked up.

1/31/03 Our bed has been in his room while they work on our floor. I woke up this morning and watched him sleep for a few minutes. He was muttering, "no! no! No!" in his sleep and trying to pull the covers up over his back to a place where his pajamas were gaping open. When he woke up he said, "The face was blowing it's talking on my back and I didn't like it!" bless his heart He later added that it was a "pink face on a black thing."

1/30/03 Was sitting on the floor working on a jigsaw puzzle (his new obsession) and he said to me, "After I work this puzzle I'm gonna come give you a hug." He was not nearly finished, so I really wondered if he would follow through with his plan, but sure enough, he finished the puzzle several minutes later, jumped up and came over to me to collect his hug.

1/30/02 He was trying to disassemble one of his puzzles, but having trouble, and he lifted the face off of one corner of a piece. I brought it in and repaired it with some double stick tape and admonished him not to tear it so he said, very solemnly, "I'm never gonna tear it again."

1/30/03 More funny words: "Object," and "Concerned,"

1/29/03 Figured out how to spell, "God" and spelled it with his bathtub foam letters. He said, "God starts with G!" and I said yes, what letter says, "ah" and he said, "O!" and then I said that's right, you spell "God, G. O. …, what letter comes at the end? gaaahhhDD" and he said, "D!" so he spelled himself!

I took him to Braum's after his dance class today as a reward for good behavior. He was standing with the icecream freezer at eye level while I ordered our ice cream. He looked at the embossed letters in the freezer and said, "that says Brrrraaaauuums, Braums!" 1/28/03

After talking to Daddy on the phone in Georgia, Kenneth went into his room to play while I was cooking dinner, a while later he came into the kitchen and said, "Mommy can you show me where Georgia is on the map?" I obliged, and pointed out Atlanta, and explained that it is the capital. Our map has a peach tree on the state of Georgia so I added, "they have peach trees there." and he said, "Can I go there and eat a peach just like Katie in The Perilous Pit?" That's one of his books in which a little girl sits under a peach tree and eats a peach. 1/27/03

sings the Veggie Tales theme song and "God Is Bigger Than the Boogie Man" 1/26/03

Funny words he's used lately, "Item," "Verse," "Anxious," and "Assistance." 1/26/03

1/26/03 Has been on a major jigsaw puzzle kick. He's really caught on to the skills and sorting involved in working them. It's interesting to watch him scan the pile of pieces looking for the right one. He worked a brand new "huggy buggy" jigsaw puzzle all by himself. It was unframed and had 36 pieces.

1/21/03 Kenneth finished his dinner and was dancing a jig around the table while Michael and I finished eating. I suspected from the wild way he was acting so I asked, "Do you need to go potty?" and Kenneth replied, "No, I don't need to go potty. Trust me!"

1/17/03 "It's hard enough to drive your green car without two squirrels getting under it." Just after I had slowed to avoid hitting a pair of squirrels who were playing in the street.

1/16/03 "It seems to me it looks like it has snow on it." Regarding mom's nose (?)

1/13/03 "Why do big bears sleep?"

1/12/03 Read "mop," "mom," "fox," "ox," and "pop." on his refrigerator magnets

1/11/03 Read, "Blue Zoo" and "whee!" out of "My Big Back Yard."

1/11/03 Following an oft repeated conversation about Noni and where she has gone and why she can't come back. Kenneth said to me, "I don't like the dying stuff." I don't like it either.

1/8/03 Found lots of matching things on his new US Map - Totem poles in both Washington State and Alaska, Skiers in Vermont, Idaho and Colorado, Space Shuttle Icons in Texas and Florida, etc.

01/07/03 Said, "Esophagus sounds like Asparagus."

Named "Tuney" 1/6/03

12/26 I was putting his long john style pajamas on him and he looked down at himself and said, "I look like Caroline." a friend of his who often wears leggings under her dresses.

12/26 I was reading to him from one of his new Christmas books about the solar system and I read the text, "The moon revolves around the Earth just as the Earth revolves around the sun." and Kenneth said, "Just like a revolving door!"

12/26 Preparing for bed and choosing books I asked Kenneth if he wanted to read his new book about the children. He said, "Yes! the dark brown ones with their clothes off." It's a book called "Wake up world!" that follows 6 children from all over the world throughout the course of their day. Indeed some of them are scantily clad and have dark brown skin.

12/24 He woke up today and said, "Is today Tuesday?" (it was) We've been talking about the days of the week at length in anticipation of Christmas.

12/24 We went to see a Christmas Pageant in which our neighbor Hannah portrayed The Angel Gabrielle, complete with wings. He stood on Michael's lap enthralled with the entire production and said, "look! There's baby Jesus!" when it was over he asked, "Is Hannah going to fly high over the church like Owl?"

12/24 At dinner at El Fenix, he asked us if the waiter was a waitress. We explained that, "no, waitresses are women and waiters are men." So he kept asking each staff person who walked by the table, "are you a waitress/waiter?" depending on their gender. When our own personal waiter returned to check on his Kenneth asked him, "Are you a waiter?" The fellow answered afirmatively so Kenneth said, "When you turn into a woman will you be a waitress?" Ha ha ha!

12/23 saw brake lights on the truck in front of us and asked, "Is that truck slowing down?" I'm sure I've never told him that brake lights indicate such. (I later realized that he has a book that does though - "highway trucks")

12/23 He woke up during the night and told me, "I was dreaming about Tigger saying worarroworrawrrow" He's often told me about his dreams when I've asked, but this is the first time he's volunteered the information or said, "I was dreaming..."

12/23 He has memorized "Twas the Night Before Christmas." and can recite it. I heard him doing so, but when he got to the part where it says, "and I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight," he said, "It should be AS he drove out of sight."

12/23 He's starting to be able to work 12 piece unframed jigsaw puzzles independently, although he does not do so in one sitting.

12/18/02 At breakfast we were talking about how he learned to take a bow at dance class. He said, "yes, just like in 'Good For You.'" A book in which the toddlers are told to take a bow. It so nice that we've given him so much information to refer back to.

First Dance Class - 12/17/02 He loved wearing the tap shoes, he didn't quite get the concept of taking turns, but he seemed to have fun and he wants to go back.

12/10 Built a big van out of his magnetic blocks said it was full of Noni's stuff and that Daddy & Tony were going to drive it away. Later, with the same toy, he said one of the magnet people was Noni and he said, "Noni died off a plane block and went far far away." He made the little person jump off a block and then moved it across the room, far from wher he was playing and said, "Noni's on the mountain."

Also on 12/10 He said he was a paramedic and he was giving me oxygen because I inhaled smoke. He built a train with his magnetic blocks complete with a triangular block that he said was the cow catcher and put it on the front. He played with his big machines by lantern light and told me the guys were working at night. When I asked him what they were building he said, "An Apple Store."

12/5 Played "baseball" with me on the bed. He seemed to know a lot of the rules! He stood on "home plate," and made me hold out my glove so he could throw the ball to me. I have know idea where he learned this!

12/4 Made a face out of his apple at breakfast. He bit eyes, nose and mouth out of it.

12/3/02 Conversation
Mom: What were you doing in your room while I was making dinner? I saw you in there with your fire truck
Kenneth: yes, and my big machines.
Mom: What were the guys building?
Kenneth: A Road
Mom: Where was the road going?
Kenneth: It was not going, it was stopped. Cars were driving on it. Roads don't drive, roads don't have any wheels!

Sat in Santa's lap and told him, "I want a big forklift with a guy to drive it, and a P.T. Cruiser." 12/2/02

Asked, "Which Kitty Sneezed?" when a kitty sneezed out of sight. We could hear her, but not see her. 11/26/02

Sounded out "Hh or ss" 11/02

11/02 Said, "Loo Loo Boo would say, 'That's what you get for eating chocolate!'"

Sings virtually every song he's ever heard! 11/25/02

Communication has reached a new level of sophistication. Asked me, "What do they do in there?" regarding David & Kristen's shower, which has a door instead of a curtain like ours. A few minutes later he told David, "I know what's upstairs…her room!" It's hard to define, but there's a sudden obvious difference.

Spontaneously said, "Bob's given me 3 cars," exhibiting a great memory, and working a simple math problem by adding the new car to the two that Bob had given him 6 months earlier. 11/22/02

Spelled "Go" and "Tigor" (tiger) with his fridge magnets 11/02

Sings, "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head." and "Take me Out to the Ballgame." 11/04/02

At Brookshire's in the produce aisle, he looked at a sign and said, "Mama, the sign has three red apples and the other sign has two green apples." Sure enough, they did. 11/3/02

Michael was sharing some of his "infinite" wisdom with Kenneth, after which he said, "isn't that right?" Kenneth answered rather mindlessly, "yes, it is." Then, Michael said, "That's a good boy, just agree with me and you'll go far in life." to which Kenneth replied, "Um, I don't think so." we both just cracked up. 11/2/02

Drew a face with eyes, nose and mouth 11/2/02

Strung 8 beads on a string. Finally! 10/20/02

10/19/02 Said, "There is a purpose pod in the middle of the street and it doesn't have a guy in it!"

10/19/02 We sang a song several times and then told him we would sing it one more time only. When we finished singing it for the last time he said, "sing it again." When we refused, he said he would get someone else to sing it. When we asked who, he said, "Amos!"

"Cereal sounds like Arial" 10/18/02

Is occasionally asking "why." 10/18/02

Counted 10 grapes on his plate. Moved them from one cup to another one at a time as he counted. 10/18/02

10/17/02 Sounded out and read "mat, pat, & cat."

10/16/02 Holds up 6 fingers, five on one hand and one on the other, and says, "six!"

10/02 "Dinosaur is too big to live in Danny's house. He should live in a Dinosaur house."

made a joke, "Bless you! Bless you! 5 bags empty!"

10/11/02 We were in the grocery store yesterday and Kenneth spotted a little package of cheap plastic dinosaur party favors. I decided to go ahead and let him have them. So, he's got hold of them as I push the cart around and he's totally fixated. The manager happened down the aisle, retrieving an item for someone. She stopped and commented on Kenneth's hair, "What a beautiful color!" (It's red) "Did you get a toy? What have you got there?" So Kenneth says, "Well, it's a package of dinosaurs. This is a Tyrannosaurus Rex. This is a Stegasaurus, he has armored plates. This is a Diplodocus. This is a kind of turtle looking thing. This is a Triceratops. They're found in rocks in the ground."
She said, "Oh my! you're smart. how old are you!?"
He said, "Well, I'm just two."

Looked at my chipped plate at the dinner table and said, "Do you need a better one because that one is breaking!" 10/02

Has been using the word, "when." For example, "When I wake up, I will say, 'Mama, I want to hear the Chooma Sapidinga song.'" 10/7/02

Both yesterday and today he asked to look at his "Bob's Books." He seems to be making some major leaps in understanding the process of reading. He seems to be working very hard at it, and is very interested in it just lately. With lots of help and prompting, he read several words and a couple of entire pages from the first three Bob's Books. 10/7/02

Asked Raggedy Andy to Play with him. He said, "You can play with the cement mixer and I'll play with the Fisher Price dump truck!" It was so sweet. 10/7/02

Cut his last baby tooth 9/23/02 I guess we won't have to do that again until he's 6 or so, until we have another!

Looking at the analog clock, "What time it is?" Funny, he reversed it and is, but heck, he's starting to understand time! 9/19/02

"Occupied; What does it mean, Mama?" I answered as best I could 9/19/02

"Do they fit properly?" He asked, after donning his sunglasses 9/19/02

Asked for the "Chew Suppa Minga" song, after much searching, Mommy discovered it was "Chooma Sapidinga" which means "Go ahead! Eat!" in Tamil, the language of Sri Lanka. It was one of the lyrics to a song on his new CD. 9/18/02

"Which chair do you like? I bet you like that one, and I like this one." 9/17/02

"I'm Singing a lot myself. I'm good!" 9/16/02

"Elizabeth was sitting in the black chair while I was playing 'No Soap.'" remembering an event from 3 months ago - a cousin he met once. 9/16/02

"Yesterday I had a waffle with Daddy, and you were asleep." 9/16/02 correctly used "yesterday."

Removed his pants and underwear all by himself 9/15/02

Can accurately count objects. 9/15/02 several examples of specifics below.

"Riley, Troupe and Charlie are three boys, and I make four." 9/15/02

Pretended to play the trombone, drum, violin, guitar and upright string base with a straw a plastic cup. For the violin, he ran the straw back and forth bow like across the cup, for the trombone he slid the straw back and forth in his hand near his mouth, etc. 9/14/02

Played a word game with himself, "Snake, Snick, Snack, Snook, Sneak, Snock, Snuck." 9/14/02

Drew a connection between his Veggie Tales video, Madame Blueberry and a book he has, "Hippo Lemonade." He said that Madame Blueberry, Bob and Larry, were like the Hippo in Hippo Lemonade because they both went to the store and bought stuff. 9/12/02

Remembered bouncing in his bouncer in the kitchen door, said, "I was in the hallway and I had a cold duck." The cold duck was one of his teethers. We must have stopped using that bouncer over a year ago. 9/12/02

Looked at the dining room wall, and counted 8 plates. 9/12/02

Remembered that Deyna made him some blueberry muffins in Veggie Tales Muffin cups when we started singing "The Muffin Man." 9/11/02

Invented his own target game in the bathtub, when he drops his colored tablets into the water he tries to get them to land on one of the non skid decals on the bottom of the tub, or he tries to drop it through one of the rings that his toy Dolphins float in. I was sure that Michael had showed him this idea, but nope, Kenneth came up with it all on his own. He even calls the shots, "I'm going to put this one on the sea horse." He's been doing it for several nights now 9/9/02

Played a great game of filling in the blank first letter on Reader Rabbit learn to read with phonics. He was really doing well! 9/9/02

Is using the word, "Unfortunately." 9/9/02

Threw up for the first time 9/9/02

"What is she wondering?" regarding wide-eyed wife in Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman 9/8/02

"Daria sounds like area" 9/8/02

I always tell him how many books we are going to read, and then count backwards as we read them, "We have three books left." etc. We had six books to read, and he told me correctly when we had 4 books left 9/5/02. He also used his feet to bring the book up from the foot of the bed to read.

We reminded him that every time he tells us that he needs to go potty and has a successful mission he will get two Skittles rather than the usual one. He said, "Is that really true?"

Is working hard to correctly use the words, "fascinating" and "awful" and "interesting." He is using "because" incessantly. 8/26/02

Opened a birthday package with dinosaur wrapping paper. He pointed to the dinosaur and correctly said, "That's a scolosaurus, he has armored plates." 8/26/02

8/25/02 Made an amazing connection in the car on the way home from Aunt Tricia's which I've now forgotten. It had something to do with something he'd read in a book and something one of us had just said. I'll think of it later. When I told him, "You're amazing!" he said, "I am amazing."

Celebrated his second birthday 8/24/02