👶The boy said his first sentence: \"Bye meh!\" (Translation: \"Bye, plane!\", said to a massive Korean Air jumbo jet he watched take off from Sea-Tac.) 👶Lemons to lemonade: The jet-lagged boy was up *way* early, so we went and got coffee together. 👶He played with Imogen at the wading pool at Greenlake. 👶Two upper canines. Cranky. 👶He loved Grandma Jean‚Äôs toys (a.k.a. papa‚Äôs toys when he was little). 👶After getting in late the night before, he woke up at 7:30am to play with the ‚Äúgur‚Äù (digger). 👶Napped. For. Three. Hours. 👶After going to bed late the night before, he woke up at 7:30am to play with the ‚Äúgur‚Äù (digger). 👶During the trip back to Seattle, he napped. For. Three. Hours. 👶Nathan, Conner, and Imogen spent So Much Time playing. 👶Nathan spent the afternoon moving rocks from one place to another. 👶Tired-and-low-blood-sugar meltdown. Things were better shortly thereafter. 👶The kids played themselves into exhaustion. 👶Orecchiette is an excellent pasta for toddlers to eat by themselves. 👶Went out looking at construction sites, to the toy store, and then (for papa) coffee. 👶Apparently there‘s some kind of embargo on import of Duplo diggers to the U.S.; placed an order with a small Danish outfit in the hopes they can smuggle it in. 👶Moved his crib out of our bedroom. Anxious about tonight‘s sleep. 👶He slept decently in his own room, but woke distressed. 👶He slept decently again, but woke distressed again. 👶The Danish Duplo smuggler (or PostDanmark, whichever) wanted to charge DKK 261,00 for shipping, up from the quoted 60, for an item that costs 169,75. Too much; starting over. 👶Now considering a courier to smuggle the Duplo thingie past customs when he returns from France. 👶Played with the dude all evening. Pretty awesome. 👶Spent all day with the dude. 👶When I told him that Conner was going to come over, he wouldn‘t stop saying \"Co‘er\". 👶When he saw Connor get out of the car, he ran to the front door. 👶The kids played so well together. 👶Read \"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel\" for the third time in less than two waking hours. 👶Nathan kept talking about Annie on the drive home. 👶Haircut. Traumatic, perhaps because of lack of sleep. 👶Nathan and Conner videoconferenced. 👶The dude‚Äôs cold is making him produce about a gallon of snot per hour. 👶Croup = bad sleep for all! 👶Went to preschool with the dude; was adopted by little Haiden. 👶Nathan didn‚Äôt nap, and that plus farm exhaustion made him fall asleep at 6:30pm. 👶The dude was weird this evening. 👶He laughed when I told him to stop hitting me. Also, he‘s almost 2. 👶The dude was barely awake, but he still remembered where the toys were at Grandma Jean‚Äôs in about 0.5 seconds. 👶The dude likes to play with Grandma Jean. 👶Carved a \"lack o lan ur\" with the dude watching. I think it blew his mind. 👶Meghan brought Nathan to the office for kids‘ trick-or-treating. He was shy at first, then bold; he identified an inflatable bouncy room as a train car, and got to pet a dog. 👶Excellent evening playing with the dude. Learned that the animals, rather than eating the guy in the digger, are looking at him. 👶He now pronounces \"gurd≈ÇwƒÖ\" as \"digger\". 👶Oh, and the dude has apparently had tooth #17 (a molar) for quite some time. 👶The dude said ‚ÄúI love you‚Äù to me tonight, completely unprompted. I died. 👶Had lots of fun with the guy (who was wearing ladybug wings when I got home). 👶Grandma Billie came over to watch the dude. 👶The dude had bad croup overnight. Not great sleep for anyone. 👶So much better. So much more sleep. 👶The dude was so wired that he had trouble going to sleep. 👶Good times, and a few frustrating times, with the guy. 👶Mostly sunny with occasional thundershowers. 👶Nathan likes rap videos with breakdancing sharks (\"lark!\") and tigers (\"tiger!\"). 👶He tried to get me drunk. It was completely unfair; I was drinking a milk stout, but he was only drinking milk. 👶The dude prefers that the snow stay outside and he stay inside. 👶Took the dude outside, whereupon he went straight to the sandbox (sheltered from the snow by the fir tree). 👶Nathan asked his first question: \"Wer Nenno?\", translating to \"Where [is] Juno?\" 👶The dude was snuggly, and had a slight fever, and (from various other signs) is probably feeling side-effects of Monday‘s vaccination. 👶Frustrating all day long. 👶The dude has a cold, big time. 👶He did pretty well, considering the excitement and lack of sleep and having a cold. 👶The dude grabbed his ear, hollered \"Ear!\", and started crying. Does he have an earache? 👶The dude does not have an earache. 👶At least one, maybe two (the last!) molars are coming in. 👶He would eat nothing but spinach, a ton of peas, and a single slice of bread. 👶He dictated a note: \"Woman. Woman. Man.\" 👶\"Lady buy back mean dore\" = \"The lady buys black beans at the store.\" 👶He saw a picture of the beach from our last vacation, and demanded to go. We went to a park with a sandbox instead, which was great fun. 👶He saw a snow plow (\"Nopow push no off road!\") and had to have a toy one. Fortunately, the \"dreet weeper\" could be converted with minimal effort. 👶No peanuts, no tree nuts. We can do this. 👶\"We took you to the doctor today so he could figure out what foods make you sick.\" \"[serious thoughts] ... Meanut. ... [serious nod] Make lick.\" 👶Fun with Grandma Jean‚Äôs toys. 👶Fun with Grandma Jean‚Äôs toys. 👶Call paramedics, go to the doctor at the urgent care center, etc. etc. etc. All is well; no reaction worth noting. 👶Played a lot with the dude. 👶He cried because the sleeping dinosaur in the book wouldn‘t open its eyes. 👶Still with the eyes needing to be open. Meghan and I managed to deflect most of his angst. 👶Bus ride to and from the mall. 👶Fun afternoon, after the nap. 👶Alternating sweet and cranky. That, plus other symptoms, probably adds up to tooth #20. 👶He and a girl flirted at the caucus; she also owns \"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel\", which makes her super-cool. 👶He decided that the weird bug thing I assembled was a baby. He fed it milk and water, and had it carry a smaller toy person around on its back. 👶He has produced more snot in the last 18 hours than could reasonably be expected to fit within his body. 👶As autumn turns to winter, so does the cold turn to croup. 👶Dr. Krober says we did the right thing, and to watch for the same thing again tonight. He pretty much rocks. 👶He really likes playing with his grandma. 👶Tooth #20 has finally made its official appearance. Once it‘s all the way through, we‘ll be done, until age 6 or so. 👶He has already memorized much of the book, having seen (and read) it for the first time today. 👶Took him to the fire station open house. It was super-crowded, and he must have gotten shy, as he didn‘t want to get out of his stroller. 👶He knows the word \"rag√π\". 👶Downtown library. Read two digger books and one dinosaur book. 👶The boys played well together, for two-year-olds. 👶Nathan wanted Connor to stay. \"Connor play toy\", he stated/demanded. 👶The dude is cuddly, and has a mild fever. 👶He was sad when the Brown Bar-ba-loots had to be sent away. 👶Croup, damnit. Meghan caught it early and we went to Urgent Care rather than the ER, but still. 👶Follow-up with the doctor. The vaporizer mask he wore was shaped like a triceratops face, which helped make it kind of okay. 👶Walked up the street to the library. Read lots of books. He liked Audrey, but not so much as to share the little toy people he brought. 👶Walked up the street to the library with Meghan and Nathan. 👶The dude seemed to be scared of going to bed. Very sad. 👶Sadness, crankiness, and unwillingness to sleep all make sense as side-effects of an apparent ear ache. 👶Library. As soon as I suggested that we check out \"Katy and the Big Snow\", he turned and walked to the front desk. 👶The ease with which he found most of the Easter eggs was eye-opening. 👶Meghan went to see a movie; we smoked cigars, drank scotch, and played poker. 👶Mom had barely stepped in the door before Nathan brought her a book to read. 👶Library; checked out \"Duck for President\" and a bunny puppet. 👶Son‘s 6th birthday wahoo 👶The dude napped on me for an hour. 👶Made a snowman with the dude. 👶The dude napped on me for an hour and a half 👶Several days ago while reading an alphabet book, I mentioned that I wasn‘t any good with a yo yo, but his Grandpa Paul had been. Today, reading the same book, he asked for \"Grandpa‘s yo yo\". I teared up a little bit. 👶Dude woke up at six with croup symptoms. Isn‘t cold season supposed to be over? 👶Sleeptalking: \"Itsy bitsy spider went up spider spout.\" 👶(Looking at the Sgt. Pepper‘s album cover hanging in his room) \"Those are Beatles. Those are Ringo and Paul and George and John and Paul.\" 👶Sang \"Old MacDonald\" (taking animal requests). He listened and watched with bright eyes, (unconsciously?) mouthing \"E-I-E-I-O\" along with me. 👶On skateboards: \"Nathan want be older.\" 👶He insisted that we read the \"about the authors\" blurb on the inside back cover flap. When I read that they wrote \"Trashy Town\", he started talking about \"Mr. Gilly\". It took some research to determine that yes, he is the main character in that book, which we read once or twice at the library, well over a month ago. 👶Library. Lots of other families escaping from the rain. 👶While discussing glasses (\"you might wear glasses when you‘re older\"), he said \"Nathan want be a papa.\" 👶Went to the park after dinner. It was busier than I expected, but then I realized there were two kids‘ softball games going on. 👶Mellow waking-up-at-nine morning. 👶He likes \"It‘s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)\", and does not like the Man in the Moon. (He hasn‘t heard \"Man on the Moon\"; we‘ll try that next.) 👶The dude is definitely not an extrovert. He had fun with the other kids, but perhaps more fun by himself. 👶The dude did not want to nap. 👶The dude is sick Yet Again, but we can‘t say we didn‘t see it coming. 👶Zoo! Saw flamingos, giraffes, zebras, hippos, snakes, &c. Glorious weather. 👶Putting him down for nap and bed was like pulling teeth, only more annoying. 👶We woke up to hear him reciting \"Machines at Work\". 👶Good spirits. He read \"Machines at Work\", a dump truck book, and an animal book with his bear and Knuffle Bunny. 👶As he was going to bed tonight, he kept talking about how \"Gramma Jean was breaking\". I had to explain, many times, that her picture was breaking up, but she was fine. 👶The dude gave me diggers, and even let me play with them if I did so in the prescribed manner. 👶Zoo! Saw a female jaguar, toucans, various monkeys, gorillas, a tiger, orangutans sleeping under burlap, siamangs, and an elephant. When we finally reached the zebras, he lifted his head, put it back on my shoulder, and was asleep in seconds. 👶Turns out that pedaling a tricycle is not intuitively obvious. 👶Meghan and Nathan and I met a bunch of preschool friends at Greenlake. Nathan and Imogen hugged and played together. 👶The dude said \"Papa is not going to work\" this morning as I was getting ready for work. 👶Holy cow is this guy 2 or what. 👶Bad sleep. Almost certainly sick. 👶Walked around the block after lunch; saw ants, a slug, a few bees, some different-colored maples, and a toy house. 👶Still asleep after 2-3/4 (!) hours. 👶It‘s a month containing a vowel, so the dude must be sick. 👶Distracted the dude while Meghan packed. 👶Played with Grandma Jean‘s toys. 👶Played with Grandma Jean‘s toys. 👶The dude plopped down on the sand a few feet from the stairs and refused to move, though there was a wide-open expanse of sand where he wouldn‘t get tromped on by other beachgoers. 👶Super-crazy at bedtime, complete with flopping and hitting. 👶Fun playtime while Meghan gardened. 👶He sat through a 64-page book. Doubt he understood everything, but he did like the snowman the mice made. 👶Left for a shopping-and-Ballard-Locks trip. The dude fell asleep in less than a mile. Returned for a nap. 👶Nathan doesn‘t get that Elliott isn‘t as quick or capable as he is; Elliott is fascinated by this talking whirlwind. 👶Note for posterity: The dude does not like being in the sun, at least not with temperatures above ~80. Frankly, I can‘t blame him, though it will make his apparent future career as a beach bum more difficult. 👶Exceptionally cuddly and good-natured. Is he getting sick? 👶Went around the block after a thundershower. 👶The dude fell asleep on the bus back, as is normal. 👶Drew careful lines on the page, as opposed to his normal scribbling or demanding that we draw something for him. 👶The dude totally drenched himself in U Village fountains. 👶Greg and Jocelyn babysat the dude! 👶The dude declared that he wanted undies and a new potty. Shopped for the latter, didn‘t find any in the boutiquey places I went. Next stop: Target or Toys R Us or the like. 👶Tons of fun playing with Grandma Billie and her toys. 👶Several moments after sneezing with bread in his mouth: \"Nathan eated a bless-you.\" 👶Painting. All paint, on paper and in dishes, rapidly became a uniform muddy brown. 👶He practiced using pronouns \"I\" and \"you\", and possessives \"mine\" and \"yours\", and was proud when he got it right. 👶When I got home, the dude Kramered into the kitchen, then ran back into the living room. 👶Warning to parents of toddlers: A day after your child eats mostly blueberries, supplemented by raspberries, cherries, and the occasional bite of tamale, you will find something very reminiscent of meconium. I will provide no link. 👶Great playtime; the dude was variously a baker and a banker. 👶First successful use of the potty. 👶Hung out with the dude at U Village, particularly the train table at Barnes & Noble. He shared trains willingly. 👶He had good playtime with Meghan. 👶He looked around the table at everybody talking and laughing and eating, and said (something like) \"These people are all friends.\" 👶The dude suddenly and calmly threw up. Seems to be doing better now. 👶Successful in-potty poop. 👶He was terrible at bedtime, and so we didn‘t read books. He was very mad. 👶He doesn‘t like the eyes in the moon, so we taught him to see the rabbit instead. 👶Much better at bedtime. He talked about how he‘d misbehaved last night. 👶So much great, creative play today. 👶He pretty much did nothing but play with Legos all day. He had such a great time, and you could see his creativity bursting. It was so awesome. We should give him a new set every day. 👶The dude is definitely aware that people eat animals, and that some animals eat each other. 👶Also, the whole \"I‘ll pick at my food a little bit\" thing that‘s been going on the last few weeks? He‘s back to the \"eating us out of house and home\" thing again. 👶Very sweetly retold \"A Color of His Own\" as we flipped through the book, reciting parts and paraphrasing others. I died a little. 👶Morning tricycle around the block. 👶The dude played in the sandbox with his repaired loader. 👶The dude played in the sandbox with his repaired loader. 👶The dude played in the sandbox with his repaired loader. 👶Two days ago, his left nostril gushed snot for about an hour. This morning, he woke up crying, holding his left ear, and complaining that his neck hurt. Doctor‘s verdict: ear infection. 👶Went to U Village with the dude. Had a good time. He ate his entire bowl of pasta, which must have hurt. 👶‚ÄúCommon mispronunciations (as of September 2008)‚Äù 👶The dude combined his weird obsession with eating sharks with his newfound friendship with Tigger. Result: He has decided that tigers eat tiger sharks. 👶Greg and Jocelyn watched the dude. 👶Dude has a cold; snot flow approx. 1 gal./hour. 👶Cold --> croup BUT NO, we brought him into our bed so our pillows could elevate his head enough to keep his sinuses drained enough. 👶The dude apparently fell out of our bed this morning. 👶And was diagnosed as having mild croup. (Sigh.) At least we didn‘t have to go to the ER last night. 👶Totally sick dude. So sick he took an extra nap and preferred being held to playing. 👶Very sweet bedtime reading, including a big family hug after reading \"Hug\". 👶The dude composed his first song, \"Strawberry Song\". Presumably composed in honor of his strawberry yogurt breakfast, it consisted of the word \"strawberry\", repeated over 100 times at various pitches. 👶Elliott had his 1 year birthday party! 👶To urgent care with the dude. \"Reactive airway\", another respiratory diagnosis to add to his growing collection. 👶Woke the dude up at 3am for medication via inhaler. He was not amused, but he‘s breathing more easily. 👶As seems to happen in rough periods, the dude‘s brain has grown a size; play is more imaginative, and sentence structure is now far more grammatical than that of certain VP candidates. 👶Grumpus matutinus maximus. 👶Rough night; early to rise. 👶Lots of time with Elliott. He‘s a cool kid. 👶The dude had an inconsolable post-nap sleep-and-food-deprived breakdown. 👶Pacific Science Center with the kid. Loads of fun. 👶Elliott learned how to do the marble tower and the speak and spell. Impressed. 👶Another huge language jump. Now asks questions with follow-ups (\"Do you have a cat or a dog?\" \"Do you know what your dog‘s name is?\"). Rejects steamed broccoli (\"This is just a plant\"); when pressed to sample, says \"This is no good.\" 👶Elliott in an awful mood. Probably teething. 👶Morning diaper smelled *exactly* like garlic. 👶Baby had a tough night and I‘m now very tired. 👶Greg: \"Nathan is the cutest little boy *ever*.\" Nathan: \"The cutest little boy ever is *Elliott*.\" 👶Possible first dream/\"monsters under the bed\" incident: After seeing two arctic foxes at the zoo, the dude has twice told of seeing one in his room, once after his nap and once upon waking up in the morning. 👶The dude came to the office for trick-or-treating, but refused to wear his costume. 👶Dude fell asleep on the bus ride back, but woke up when we got home and wouldn‚Äôt go back to sleep. 👶Dropped the dude off at preschool with Meghan. 👶Played with the dude. One minute the clownfish toy was playing with the velociraptor; the next, the velociraptor was cooking it and \"the skin [was] coming off\". Now considering vegitarianism. 👶Love the Pacific Science Center. 👶Went all around looking at stuff. 👶Elliott signed to us with intention! He said he was all done with dinner! I hugged him so fast I gave him whiplash. 👶Hands-on farm on the east side. 👶Awful night. Our friend said they had a bad night right before their kid started walking, and the same thing happened to us. 👶It‘s the weekend, so I was at the Pacific Science Center with Elliott. He loves it there. 👶The dude totally took to Phil. 👶Elliott is fully walking now. It‘s rad. 👶On waking up in the morning, the dude was convinced that he‘d seen a bat (one of his current \"animals of obsession\", the others being owls and T. rex) in the house. 👶Went to the bookstore with the dude. 👶We are raising a cheerful cannibal. 👶The dude pronounces \"archaeopteryx\" better than I do. 👶I think the baby might be feeling better. 👶Rough morning. Dude was stir-crazy. 👶Elliott‘s on the mend. Woo. 👶Library with the dude. He checked out a T. rex hand puppet, which he has rarely set down since. 👶The dude met newly-talking two-year-old Jackson, and taught him to say ‚Äúdinosaur‚Äù (‚Äúdinus!‚Äù). 👶Elliott had some unhappy nightmares. 👶After more than a week of multiple nighttime wakings, I asked the dude about them. He said he was scared of the owls and bats. We talked about them, and looked at pictures of owls, after which he proclaimed \"I am not scared of owls anymore!\". Followed by two nights of solid sleep. 👶Baby slept well last night. Nice surprise. 👶Took the dude to Vaughn‚Äôs birthday party at the zoo. Good times. 👶Took care of the kid all day. Had fun at the park. 👶The dude turned three today! 👶The dude slept most of the night in his new bed. 👶The dude played SO MUCH with the tyrannosaurus and diplodocus shadow puppets Sarah gave him for his birthday. 👶Having Elliott would be worth it even if it was twice as hard. 👶The dude‚Äôs bowels are acting up. Concerned, but he doesn‚Äôt seem particularly bothered. 👶Babysat while Sarah went out. 👶Nikita asks me to buy green belt, brown belt and black belt sudoku. Compromise on buying green belt when he finishes #200 (out of 300). 👶The dude‚Äôs GI malady has moved from low to high. Oddly, he remains in good spirits. 👶Baby at home. Went on a walk. 👶Surprise! The dude‚Äôs thing developed into something croup-like last night! 👶The dude‚Äôs GI tract is back to normal, but now he may have a bit of a cold. 👶The dude was alternately a sweet gift-giving dove and a total jerk. Hello, Terrible Threes! 👶Lots of time with the kid. 👶Built Radio Flyer for kid with Sarah. 👶I haven‘t played this much with Elliott since paternity leave. 👶Meghan was sad; the dude tried to comfort her. 👶Baby‘s been cute but he‘s teething. 👶The dude put a dinosaur puzzle together mostly by himself. He was proud. 👶It is *so weird* to hear my verbal ticks coming out of the dude‘s mouth. 👶Helped the dude put his dinosaur puzzle together again. 👶Hung out with the kid a lot. 👶Helped Dan and Meghan watch the dude, Zac, Noah, and Ruby, while other parents cleaned the preschool. 👶The dude‘s attitude towards the market‘s squid sculpture shifted from fear to fascination to (after naming it Mr. Squid) delight. 👶The dude was also fascinated by Hammering Man. 👶Hide and Seek with the boy. Fun. 👶The dude wolfed down an untoasted crumpet, then threw up shortly thereafter. 👶The dude got a late Christmas present, a T. rex, which he basically didn‚Äôt put down the rest of the day. We now declare an official moratorium on gifts.