MiT Gr8 1 Because you can.

Arden Weekly – Zoo be zoobe doo Edition

Our big guy is still a fan of squishing himself into his baby's playpen.

Hi howdy hey!  It’s been a crazy week here again.  Strap yourselves in, it’s going to be that way all summer, I’m afraid.  They’ve been good great weeks (at least at home), though, so it’s very well worth the craziness.

Our big guy is starting to get pretty independent, and sometimes even slightly forceful.  He’s always been fairly strong-willed, but  I think that comes with being 19 months.  Probably my favorite example of his will is during meal times.  He’ll often poke around with his remaning food and then query: “Done, Daddy?  Done, Mommy?  Done Arden.   Done…Daddy?? Done……Mommy????”, making sure to ask us each in turn how much longer it will be until he can get down and play.  Hopefully those of you gathering with us on the 4th will get to hear it, it’s very sweet.

Arden has impeccable manners for being just over a year-and-a-half.  His favorite ways to show that are to greet most everybody and everything that catches his attention, “Hi horses”, “Hi Daddy”, “Mornig Mommy”, etc. and 95 times out of 90 he’ll say a crisp, “Bye Bye”.  It’s fun hearing some of the less standard things we say bye-bye to; horses, swimming pools, rabbits, the outdoors, all get a fond farewell.  All these are wonderful but I have to say, “Welcome” is my favorite for the moment, probably because he uses it right a good deal of the time, and sweetly another good bit.  I’m not going to dwell on the proper usage, but he will often use it to say ‘thank you’, which; I was thinking, makes sense.  Most other formal exchanges of that nature are repeated.  I say, “Hi” you echo “Hi” or “Hello” (or “Heaven-o” if you’re in Kleberg county, TX).  You say, “Bye” and likewise I echo…you get the drift.

We took a trip to the Sioux Falls Zoo (many thanks to G&G AJ for the multipass).  Arden was quite energized and really had a blast…I wish the animals had been a bit more active, but it was a fairly warm day, and later in the afternoon.

And now the BIG NEWS!  Arden made a poopy in his potty!!!!!!!  One morning at breakfast time Arden asked Mom to get him down…he ran around for a short bit, but then started saying, “Poopy! Poopy!”.  We asked if he had just gone (sometimes he’s very good at letting us know) but he didn’t answer, he was too busy gathering.  He ran to the living room, shuffled through his books and grabbed his potty-training propaganda book, dashed over to the table and grabbed his mother’s hand and rushed her off to his potty.  She got him ready and he excitedly sat down.  They read through the book, but no poopy.  Arden stood up and paused…out came that tricky poopy, right onto the floor!  AJ coached him that he had just gone, and helped him sit down so he could make more.  Sure enough, MORE POOPY!  He was very excited and super proud of himself, got to put a puppy sticker on his potty and help me dispose of the evidence.  It was a blast, I’m very glad I was home to see that.

Until next time, may your poopy ever land in your potty,

Dad