Brooks at 27 months

The last few weeks of Brooks's life have been hysterical. He is fully into real conversations now... complete and complex sentences, abstract thought, really funny insights. People actually stop me on the bus or tube to ask me how old he is, and most comment on how much he's talking. The most consistent Brooks-initiated conversation pattern goes something like this:

Brooks - Momma, shall we talk? (yes, he says "Shall"...)
Me - Okay, Brooks, what do you want to talk about?
Brooks - Wanna talk about friends.
Me - Which friends do you want to talk about?
Brooks - different friends...
Me - Like...?

And Brooks will then answer some combination of Miss Becky, Miss Hannah, Mr Ben, Abby, Abby's Momma (only occasionally does he refer to her as Ms Heather), Mr Ross, Mr Rachel (we're still working on who gets a Mr and who gets a Ms), Shireen and YangPing (he knows they go together but he's still working on which is which), Thea, Abbey...

Depending on the day, he'll bring up his new favorite babysitter (Melinda) or start listing out family members that we've seen in photos or talked to recently on skype. Sometimes if he's thinking of home he'll name various Chicago friends. I can't believe how tuned in he is to social things and the importance of friendships.

Some other little funny bits of language are his (very few) mispronunciations...

Dada's Strawberry... for Dada's blackberry.
Brella... for umbrella.
Dina-hores... for dinosaurs.
Gampa Shar-lie... for Grampa Charlie.

Is it wrong that I really don't want to correct these?! It's just too fun to have him still hovering around "baby talk" for a little while longer. Water is no longer wa-wa, it's clearly wah-der. I think I'll miss these phrases soon enough. Also quite fun are his use of the words "actually" and "because"... He's figured out "right now" is an important phrase, and "just a minute". Sometimes he'll leave me folding laundry or washing dishes and announce that he'll "be right back, going to get a book, wait here just a minute" all in one complete thought. It cracks me up. He's started saying "Momma, look!" or "watch me, Momma" or this morning it was "Momma, would you look at me?" ... anything to engage with us.

He loves to jump. Jumping is the funnest activity ever. We got him a pair of Wellies this week, so that he can thoroughly enjoy the garden before the mud dries out. Aside from riding a bike with Dada (they're doing that right now on this quiet Saturday morning), he wants to "run fast and fall down" (to be a "football player") or "be a man" (which means to march, just like the ceremonial guards at Windsor Castle do). Just in the last few days we've started doing car and truck races on our glass top coffee table - one on one playtime with Momma or Dada is the best! He loves to cook - both in his own little red kitchen and standing on a chair next to us in the grown-up kitchen. Today he enjoyed watching the egg whites foam up as he helped Dada make buttermilk pancakes. Dancing and singing and playing his piano are all still big fun. Jesus Loves Me and the ABC song are constantly ringing through the house. The next toy purchase will have to be a child-size guitar, because he's constantly playing air guitar ("ga-star") on all his hard-cover books, complete with toe tapping and hip wiggling. And we spend literally hours every day reading or flipping the pages through his library of books. Right now, Dr. Seuss is a lot of fun. Alternatingly, the favorite title is Doe, Gog, Doe and Go, Dog, Go...

Now that my energy is picking up again as I enter the second trimester, and we seem to be over the winter yuckies, we're scheduling more fun things during the week. Monday we spent the morning with Abby and got to visit with her mom, Heather. There were several times we had to stop chatting to laugh with our kids, who were giving themselves hiccups from belly-laughing so hard. Tuesday was mom's prayer & pastorate - both great times of fellowship, and Wednesday we got to have brunch with our friend Kim, in town from Chicago. Thursday we went to Tots and Toddlers (always a winner) and did some High Street shopping afterward. That night we had a birthday party to go to, and as the only kiddo in the restaurant, Brooks had fun with lots of grown-up friends, despite the late hour. Yesterday we went to a gathering of the Credit Munch - a group of professionals from our church's Pastorate, all recently unemployed due to the recent economic "crunch". We were at Ross's house, and Brooks and Abby were invited to join, given their permanent jobless state. While we dined on Ivan's amazing french toast & pancetta with maple syrup, Brooks and Abby played in the curtains and ended up rolling around laughing hysterically. I love that they're such good friends.



Dada and Brooks just rode up on the bike and Brooks just announced to me through the front window "I'm having fun riding Dada's bike".

I think I need to go squeeze a toddler! :)