flea

Our old camera died, sort of. The screen that allows you to see what you're taking a picture of is dead, but it still takes pictures and video okay, so I just pointed it in Dillo's general direction.

The story I am trying to get him to tell is a little schtick he has developed that goes like this: "I broke my arm, and cried, and cried, and cried, and cried. Then I went to the doctor and got some candy." He made this whole story up on his own. Obviously he wasn't wholly willing to perform for the camera. At the end you get a little bit of his goofy "blah blah blah" schitck.

Although he remains somewhat unintelligible to those not accustomed to conversing with 2 year olds, he actually speaks pretty good English at this point. Mostly complete sentences, mostly grammatically correct. He gets lost and tangled if he tries to make long sentences or tell a story or express a complex idea, but for short factual declaratives he's there.

Well, it finally got cold - they said it was 32 degrees the other morning, but the impatiens are still blooming, so I know we haven't really had a frost. And so, of course, Dillo has come down with the first cold of the season. When Dillo gets a cold, his nose runs, but his eyes also run, an incredible amount. I had to use a warm wet washcloth on his eyes and nose to get him looking human this morning. He spent Wednesday night in bed with me, and last night mostly in bed with me too, including lots of coughing and crying and wiping his nose all over creation. He's not really that sick - no fever, sunny disposition when vertical - it's just the phlegm problem when he's lying down. I'm tired.

He's talking a little more: backpack, bus, LOTS of hello!, dog

He took the time change rather badly, and has been up at 5:30 or 6 most of the week. One morning he was up, mr. flea got him and I nursed him in our bed and it was clear he wasn't going back down. Grandma D. was up and offered to take him, but he's been pretty wary with her. mr. flea and I tussled over which of us would get another half hour of sleep and which would go out with Grandma and Dillo. I said, "If you don't go out there, I swear in 10 minutes I'll have to go out and help Grandma." I heard the pad pad pad of footie-pajama clad feet. Dillo's head appeared at the foot of the bed and he said, "Hewwo!" We both laughed - and got up.

He also says "Hello!" when we read a lift the flap book. To every single flap.

He can move the stool in the bathroom into position in front of the sink and climb on it.

He's really into feeding himself with a spoon, a skill picked up at day care. He can drink from a cup okay (they also do this at day care) but the danger there is he's as likely to dump out the cup as anything. We have a few Nuby cups, a kind of sippy with a bite valve which worked really well, but he has chewed on them and broken the valves, and also learned that if he holds the cup upside down and presses the valve against a hard surface (the table, the floor) he can get milk or juice everywhere. So we're working with regular sippies again, the impossible to keep clean ones.

The Dillo has discovered his screaming voice. I do seem to remember this as a developmental phase from Casper. It seems to mean, "I like to scream!"

Rackin' Frackin' Ford dealership STILL HAS OUR CAR. They say today. It was originally supposed to be done last Thursday. Allegedly they are having trouble matching the paint. Um, folks, it is factory-issue Ford paint and you are a Ford dealership. Get on the competence train, people!