he said it

"I wuv you Mommy."

And of course, I wasn't even there to hear it.

$$$pig$$$

Andy loves to feed his piggy bank. It all started about 6 or 7 months ago when he started finding change lying around. Naturally being just over 1 year old, the coins went directly to his mouth. So, being the brilliant young mother that I am, I taught him about the piggy. I told him that we feed coins we find to the piggy. After that, he was thrilled to be able to feed his pig. And now, whenever he finds a coin he comes running with it saying, "Piggy! Piggy! Piggy!"

So yesterday when he found a penny and asked for the pig, I figured I'd gather up all the change I could find and keep him occupied for a few minutes. We went to Daddy's desk, collected everything except the quarters (he says they're for parking meters, but I think they're for the snack machine) and took it all to the pig. Andy's already familiar with quarters since he has a stash at his grandparents' house.

He held up a penny and I told him what it was. He repeated "penny." He held up a nickel and we did the same thing.

Finally he held up a dime. I said, "It's a dime".

He said, "Baby quarter."

Makes sense to me.

for the love of ed

The basement renovation has begun. We're very excited. There's 40 hours of hammering, drilling, boring, and cementing every week as a new wall goes up, a new bathroom is built, appliances are moved, etc etc etc.

The work is being done by our friend, Van, who has performed every construction project on our family's homes since 1984. But, being a busy man, Van doesn't do the daily work any longer. Byron and Ed do the work.

And so begins Andy's love affair. Andy loves Ed.

Ed is older, a bit gruff, no-nonsense and very talented. (Byron is too, but he says perhaps 3 words a day so Andy doesn't get as much fodder from him.) Perhaps it's because "Ed" is easy for a toddler to say. I don't know. But after the first few days, Andy started talking about Ed. Sometimes it would be incoherent babble punctuated by the word "Ed" here and there. Clearly, the man had made an impression.

Now, at the end of the second week of construction, Ed is firmly ensconced in Andy's mental framework. In the morning we go downstairs to see Ed and Andy chirps, "Hi Ed!" over and over as we go down the stairs. At the end of the day when Ed walks to his car, Andy calls, "Bye Ed!" over and over and waves.

Meanwhile, we've been spending a good deal of time with my friend Kate. We went to high school together and reconnected last summer. She's very helpful with Andy and fits right into our routine without a hitch. It's great.

The thing is, Andy is so in love with Ed that Kate is having to fight to make her identity known. Simply put, Andy calls her Ed. When we meet somewhere and we walk in the door, Andy waves to Kate and says, "Hi Ed!" When we leave, Andy calls, "Bye Ed!" It drives her nuts.

The other day we had a late breakfast at Tim Horton's. As Andy ate his croissant, he babbled to Kate about Ed. And when she went to the restroom, Andy began to look around the restaurant and point to other customers. It took me a minute to realize he was pointing to each person, waving, and saying, "Hi Ed!"

That's right. Everybody in Tim Horton's restaurant on Monday April 7th, 2008 was named Ed.

What a coincidence!

time out issues

We're having a bit of a problem at our house.

What do you do when you're kid is rotten?

You put him in Time Out.

But therein lies said problem.

What do you do when your kid thinks Time Out is awesome?

Today Andy reverted back to his old water spitting habit. I thought we were done with that, but it's back with a vengeance. And it's ticking me off.

At his Meme's house today, he spat water all over her couch after I'd specifically told him not to. I said, "Andy, no spitting water! Do I need to put you in Time Out?"

He smiled and said, "Yeah!"

Oh crap, I thought. Now what?

"Do you want to go in Time Out, Andy?"

"Yeah!"

Okay, so at this point I have no choice but to put him in Time Out. I can't make it an empty threat.

So I said, "Okay, you're going to Time Out because you're spitting water." I took him into a quiet room and faced a chair towards the wall. I put him in it and told him why he was in Time Out. Then I walked away where he couldn't see me.

He sat in the chair for a few seconds, then turned around, craned his neck until he could see me, waved at me and said, "Hi Mommy!"

I bit my tongue so I wouldn't laugh, turned him back around in his chair and stepped away again. When I returned after about 10 seconds (he's not even two...more than 10 seconds would be a stretch) he happily said, "Hi!" again, hopped down and toddled off.

The entire episode was a flop.

cvs

After a long day of battling the flu and a visit to the doctor, we arrived at CVS to pick up some cough medicine for Andy.

We walked in the door of the store.

Andy looked around.

"Oh my God", he said dramatically.

andy speak

"Take."

Please take what is in my hand; I do not want it and I refuse to set it down myself. You will take it and like it.

"Put."

I want you to put this *here* and not touch it. -OR- I am putting this here. Don't touch it.

"Grab."

Give me that. I can't reach it or I'm too lazy to try. Grab it for me!

fleurs

Last evening we were enjoying the warm evening on the porch swing. Andy toddled off the porch over to Meme's budding flowers. Amidst the shoots were hundreds of lovely little purple flowers that I'm certain fall into the "weed" category. He spent ten minute poring over them and then plucked one blossom and ran excitedly back over to me. He said, "Take!" and put the purple flower in my hand, then said, "Flower." And smiled.

And my heart melted. For the first time my son gave me a flower. I hugged him, kissed him, and thanked him.

Five minutes later he took it back and ran off with it.