Theophilus John

There is a lot to say about him right now, so he gets his own entry. He can now say EVERYTHING. It seems he has a bit of his parents' tendencies towards perfectionism and waits to do things until they're just right. We were not worried about his not saying much because it was very evident he understood everything, but now that he says everything it is a constant delight for us. Language! How fun! Here are some of the current delights:

"Rubble, double!" and all the Paw Patrol sayings

Last night, "You run too, Mama!" so I chased him.

This is not a new one, but still enjoyable, he likes to sing "Baby 'da do-do do-do-do" to the tune of Baby Shark. When he does this Frida (Baby 'da) dances from the waist up with a nice bounce.

"No more, Mama" (or whoever). He has discovered how good it feels to have power over people in telling them to stop. Food regulations, ya!

"1, 2, 3, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, __"

"You race me, Uncle Walt!" (while addressing Auntie Mercy)

"Poop cake!!"


The Wonders of Christmas Decorations
In other Theo news, I came down one day to find him standing on a chair by the Christmas lights, munching on them. Yes munching. The bulb was completely gone.

Me: Did you eat that?!
Theo: Yes.
Me: Are you sure, you really ate that?
Theo: Yes.
Me: You put it in your mouth, and swallowed it, and now it is inside of you?!
Theo: Yes.
Me: Ahhhhhhhhh!

I called Daniel who set off to googling the problem. Then I called the nurse line. As he was not struggling with breathing they said to go ahead and wait until he poops it out. Let me tell you I wasn't going to comb through his diaper so I'm thinking when a little scrape appeared in the diapered area, it was that sharp bulb making its mark. That scrape is visible, but in every other way it appears that it is fine if your child wants to eat Christmas lights, so don't worry about it.

PoopCake!

And of course there's always more news when it comes to our own precious children!! This week's big news: POOP IN THE POTTY!!! One cannot be forced to be ready to put it in the toilet, there are all sorts of ways to skirt it: put it in your diaper when you first wake up and no one knows you've woken, sneak off by yourself while Mama is busy with the other children and put it in your diaper, hold it forever so as not to put it in the potty. So we've been talking about how when the poop is ready to go in the potty, we will make Poop Cake!! Theo loves Cake. And even more than Cake, he loves the idea of Cake, and talking about Cake. Especially when he can say "poop" and "cake" together at the same time! Well on Friday Theo did it for the first time, and there was great rejoicing!! Saturday he not only did it again, but told his Papa that they were coming beforehand! Yesterday he snuck it in his first morning diaper and in the bathtub. And tried to say Frida had done it...

Before you experience the following video, let me defend Theo. He pooped in the toilet in the morning, but it was a busy day so I didn't get around to making the cake and the frosting until later in the day. So it was not ready to be enjoyed (though talking about it until then was almost as satisfying!!) until after his nap. Now Theo loves his nap. He would sleep for at least 3 hours if I didn't wake him. I wake him after 1.5 hours or he wouldn't ever fall asleep at night. So, I had just woken him, brought him down to his brother who was VERY excited and loud about it. And, Theo is 2.5. 

Theo, are you bigger and reading this? WE LOVE YOU. We think you're wonderful, brilliant, hilarious and remarkably obedient. And sometimes when you are fully acting like a 2.5 year old, we turn our faces and laugh. We are helping you grow up and learn how to obey because we love you, but we also are laughing! A lot!