Finally fall!

This week fall temperatures finally came to Washington. Well, starting Thursday. Before that I think we had a few record high days, but then in came the cool front. You can see it pushing back Elliott's wispy red locks as he sits on the slide. When a big gust of wind comes by, Elliott says with a smile, "Brrrr!!!" He is loving being outside these days, so we spend a lot of time in the back yard on the slide or at his new easel or just chasing balls down the slope. He's pretty good at climbing up and down the slope with just one hand for help or crawling up the slope by himself.

After so much more time outside, he's really taken an interest in labeling "tree" and "bird" and making a mouth/chewy sound that I make for squirrel. Being so close to the airport, there are also plenty of opportunities to point out "plane"s! Elliott still makes his funny finger-against-lip sound for "tomato" when looking at where we used to have our grape tomato plants. And yesterday, when encouraged to say "thank you," he did with clear diction (maybe accidentally clearer because his mouth was full of store-bought tomato?) and with the sign, hand to mouth and away. It was super cute and we captured it on video. I've tried to post video to Blogger before with no success, but I'll try again later. After the contextually appropriate "thank you" got such a rise out of us, Elliott kept saying it a bunch more times later that night, a propos of nothing. Elliott also now can say "bath" and "bottle" and sign for water in various contexts (to drink, re: the garden hose, looking at a photo of him at the splashground), and he frequently asks for "bubble." He has dumped out two different bottles of bubbles but even when he sees the empty bottle or the wand by itself (don't ask, things just sit around the house inexplicably), he says "bubble" and blows on the dry wand. I think he also says something that kind of sounds like "chalk" for sidewalk chalk. His clearest spoken word (and a favorite object) is probably "shoes." He likes to bring me shoes, put on my shoes, and suggest shoes when he wants to go outside. Come to think of it, he does answer my question of "want to go outside" with something like "out?" or "side?" If we hear or see children, Elliott says "ids" and makes the sign for children. The neighbor girls (twins almost three and sister almost five and her friend) have really taken a liking to him and almost seem to compete for his attention. He gets a kick out of them and their play kitchen if we happen to go in their house. When I suggest it's time to end an activity Elliott says very clearly, "Nmo!" Sometimes I have to carry him kicking and screaming, but it usually fades if I empathize for a moment and then talk about the next thing in a happy voice.

Though bubbles and outdoor play are a definite hit, these days Elliott's favorite word and item is "CD!" Almost always this is announced with an exclamation point, though sometimes it's got a question mark and is followed with "please" as in "will you please turn on the music on this obnoxious toy?" ("CD" seems to have replaced his "shisch" and sign for music.) We don't do a lot of electronica, but he really does love all sounds, and he dances around so happily that we have succumbed a bit, especially if we're trying to make dinner. And John also has baseball on the TV a lot these days, so Elliott catches some glimpses of that world. While I'm admitting this, I'll also say that I bought a Yoga for Kids DVD thinking that if he saw other kids, he might imitate and maybe I could get some more yoga time. He was interested for a few minutes, I think more by the flowers and scenery, but he moved on after a short time, so I'm not worried he's going to become addicted to the TV (nor am I convinced I'm going to get more daytime yoga in).

Back on the CD thing, he wants to hold one and be sure that one is playing when we're in the car. Sometimes I get in a few minutes of NPR before he starts in, and then I'll take his CD and give him back the one that was in the player. But often he will not get into his car seat unless he is holding a CD in one hand (and, often, a snack in the other). Those CDs get carried around so much (including all over the Mall downtown, all through the Green Festival last weekened) that most of them are scratched and have several tracks that just won't work -- or that play at super-crazy-warp-speed. This garners "uh-oh" in that cute toddler voice. Fortunately John rips most of our music onto the computer so that we can use the Slim Server device, so we have access to skip-free music at home.

Elliott had a fever a while back and so missed preschool on week four, but he seemed to adjust well this week after an initial weepy time. I'm told he was dancing and laughing after going outside. When I came to pick him up and first he whined for me but then seemed to realize, "oh, if I go home with her I have to leave this fun place and this great new music. Hmm." He sort of stared out the window while eating a few more bites of lunch as I gathered his things.

Last week we had two biting incidents on playgrounds (one with a stranger kid and one with someone in our playgroup), but I didn't hear that Elliott did anything at school. He and Julia had a little trouble taking turns playing with a car at the playground (she kept asking if he was "all done?") but did okay when they sat next to each other. When Elliott monopolized Joey's car at Joey's house, despite Joey's demand of "out!" we had some grabbing. After two shows of aggression, I said we were leaving. Joey happily waved by to Elliott with a big smile, so Katie suggested Joey give him a kiss. Joey leaned out of the car, Elliott leaned forward, and mwah! A perfect kiss. It was the cutest things I've ever seen!

At our Parenting Playgroups class -- where we have free play in a cute preschool room and then moms sit and hear a lecture on some aspect of child development while two teachers entertain the kids in the same room -- he did grab some hair of an older girl holding onto a box of toys. I watched from several feet away and was pleased that he let go without losing it after the teacher just said his name and pried off his hands. I'm hoping that more interaction with other adults in safe places will help him see different ways of dealing with his frustration. I'm also going to try to get him more regular craniosacral therapy to try to deal with jaw tension so that he doesn't grow up to be a clencher like his mom & dad.

We had our first trip to a farm this week, Frying Pan Farm Park. Elliott does indeed know that a horse says, "neigh!" and (and a cow says "moo"). He didn't care much for the pigs but was certainly intrigued by the tractors and the chickens.