Oh - I am typing this on a brandy-new laptop computer, which is pretty awesome. It's taking me a while to get used to the touch pad for a mouse. But it's HD and wide screen and I don't have any pictures on the computer yet but I just watched some video and IT. LOOKS. AWESOME.
So, here we go with the Dexter-isms:
Dex is pretty adept at finding our car in the parking lot. I usually ask him if that's our car, and he'll say no. Is that our car? No. How about that grey car - it that our car? YES. Now, if I forget to do the asking, he just asks himself. So we walk through the parking lot with Dexter talking to himself: "Dat our car? No. Dat our car? No. Dat our car? No. Dat our car? YES."
Dexter has graduated to a new sippy cup, with no spout and no straw and no valve. So it spills, just a little, if it falls over. We're on our way, in a year or so, to an actual, real person cup. But the new cup has been very exciting for a couple weeks, as he has been able to drink "Milk with a new cup!" And every now and then he turns the cup so the drinking "hole" is facing up, instead of in his mouth. And he'll say to himself "No dis (turns cup), no dis (turns cup), yes DIS." as he finds the proper location from which to drink.
Dex was sick last week - just his typical monthly cold. So we were taking his temperature a lot. And the thermometer beeps when it has hit a constant temperature. So we wait for the beep. And Dexter decided that the thermometer was "Just like beep-beep-beep all done french fries. Daddy like french fries." Do you have no idea what I am talking about? It's from our local hamburger place, Jakes (think Five Guys, but not as yummy). There you can hear the beep of the fry cooker, so we told him that the beeping meant the fries were all done. So for a couple months now, Jakes has been called beep-beep-beep all done french fries. Dexter applied that to the thermometer, adding the part about Daddy liking french fries, because he and Daddy went there last weekend and, apparently, Dex learned that Daddy does, indeed, enjoy some french fries. Got to be careful what you say around the child these days.
Dex LOVES to help cook. Especially if there is cheese involved. He helps makes breakfast every morning. Trots in to the kitchen, sees me cooking, declares "You can help me," pulls up a chair, and helps. Some. Last week he was holding his star when he came in, so he said "You can help me with a star." This whole not understanding the proper use of pronouns thing is kind of a killer - basically he's saying, hey - Mom, I can help you. AND, bonus! I have a star! This past week when he was sick and we were trying to get him to blow his nose, he learned what boogers were. So he was standing on a chair, helping me make breakfast a few days ago. And I was doing something, not looking. And he says, "No want dis." I went to turn around to take whatever thing he didn't want (usually like the skin of a hot dog, or a piece of cheese that's not cut straight) and he says "No want dis booger." And hands over his booger. Thanks, little man. Just what I've always wanted!
I cleaned out Dexter's book shelf a few weeks ago, and put a pile in our room - books that are now too young for him, books that we hate reading because they are annoying. Dex saw the pile and grabbed the Itsy Bitsy Spider book out of it. Which was in the pile in the first place because it's ridiculously long, and also it sucks. But Dexter loves it. John was sitting on the floor, and Dex walked right over to him, sat down, held up his book, and said, "Read Itsbee Bitsbee Pider." So, damn it, the Itsbee Bitsbee Spider book is back on his book shelf. I'll try to hide it again later.
Just heard over the monitor "You get UP!" so it sounds like Dexter's clock is yellow and his nap is over. I'll be back...
Dex has been all about numbers and letters recently. He was playing with a ball that we had written our last name on, and stopped abruptly to say the letters. "N-O-R-M-A-N." Yes, I said, do you know what that is? That's your name. Norman. He tried it out a few times, and now when you ask him his name he might well tell you "Dexter Norman." He's also finally got "244 Owenwood" down pat when you ask him where he lives. So if he gets lost, there's like a 3 percent chance now that someone might understand him and be able to get him back to us.
Dex learned how to count to 20 a couple weeks ago, when Miss Lisa was here for early intervention. He's had counting to 12 under control for a while, because those numbers are on his clock. But 13 - 20 were new for him. He was practicing his counting - eighteen, nineteen, ten-teen, eleven-teen, twelve-teen. Hee-hee! You count just like your grandpa, Dex.
And, finally, swimming has been on the forefront of pretty much any conversation you have with Dex. What'd you do today, Dex? Go swimming with Miss Eliza, he says. Even if we did that five days ago. So we were reading a book with worms in it, and the worms were in the ground. Dex decided the worms were swimming in green water. When he was eating his crackers and hummus the other day, he decided that his hummus was water (it had a deep end and a shallow end, even) and his crackers were swimming. One cracker was swimming with Miss Eliza, and it wasn't crying. One cracker was swimming with Mama. When he was done with his snack, he licked the hummus off and declared the crackers "Ahl Done Fwimming."
Speaking of swimming with Miss Eliza - I've been leaving entirely the past two weeks, and this past week was Dexter's best lesson yet. Miss Eliza sang to him for a while as they were swimming, and she said he stopped crying for many minutes. Fabulous! Maybe next week he'll freak out less when I hand him over. We'll see...
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