A Midsummer Day's Report

We’ve been pretty busy this summer, so I haven’t been able to post much lately. That said, we’re still busy, and I don’t have a lot of time at the moment to write a Russian novel-length post, so I have to be quick.

 

Do you know what it’s like to visit houses for sale with a toddler who is pumped up and ready to go? It’s isn’t easy…

 

Peter is getting big. Not chunky, far from it. But he’s tall and strong. He’s also got his evasive moves down for when he wants to get away from being held. There’s “The Swim,” “The Twist,” “The Buck,” and “The Squirm.” A strong, lithe toddler employing any one of those moves is difficult to control, but when he throws them at you in combos he usually gets what he wants pretty quickly.

 

He learned how to turn the cable power on and off, along with changing channels and volume on the TV. I had to move the cable box to the top of the TV so he doesn’t ruin our watching the vast nothingness of cable. When he first figured out he could turn off the cable box he’d put his finger next to the button and wait for us to tell him not to do it. Then he’d push the button and stick out his jaw and squint while stomping away with a diabolical laugh. He used to be so nice…

 

Peter now will mimic hair washing. He will sit on our bed and play with a lotion bottle by touching the top of it, then raising his hands to his hair and rubbing his fingers through his hair. Obviously he can read directions, because he’ll rinse and repeat it several times.

 

He has also been working on whining. His shrieking is down, but he’s replaced it with a more persistent whine whenever he’s of the mind to do so. Usually it’s while in the car. I’m able to distract him by opening and closing the sunroof, but every time I do it lessens the effect of the following time I do it, so he’s developing a resistance to it. Once that’s of no use I’ll have to figure out some other method of entertaining him. Perhaps we could hire a jester for car rides.

 

He’s still dancing a lot. He’s getting kind of ethnic on us, too, as he’s gone a little Fiddler on the Roof-y by raising his arms up in the air and stepping around like a peasant milkman in Russia. But then he starts shaking his butt around, which I don’t remember Tevye doing.

 

And if you want to have tons of fun with him, he loves to fall back while sitting up on the bed. Especially if you do it at the same time with him. Sit up, fall back. Sit up, fall back. Laugh, laugh, laugh. Life should be so entertaining when you’re in your thirties and beyond.