Communication

He said a full proper sentence the other day, albeit a short one.

"I want to stay home."

There you have it folks, subject and predicate! Pronouns, preposition, subject, object, the whole shebang!

I was pretty proud, even though I still had to convince him that no, Mama had to run errands and go to school too, and that he'll have fun in school playing with Mia and Genevieve and Oscar and all his friends in the sandpit.

Poor bubba, what a pout. But he lightened up.

We've been having quirky moments lately with his use of the English language (vagaries with his use of Mandarin and Hokkien abound as well). Like last night, as EG recalled (I have a vague memory of it), he woke up in the middle of the night (sleeping in a cot our room while we have guests sleeping in his), and said loudly, "Mama! What you do-een?", to which I'd apparently grumpily replied, "I'm sleeping!"

And this morning, when we finally woke up, and played our "let's hide under the blanket" game, he shouted very VERY loudly, "Anybody in-SIIIde??", over and over until Wendy shouted back "Hi Aidan!!" which left him very surprised!

So he shouted again, "Any, out there?" (I'd corrected him and said that's what he should've said, since WE were IN the room)

No reply then. But we went downstairs, and Wendy relayed her amusement at having gone down earlier to check her email only to hear such an unlikely call coming from above!

Our P-plater (literally!)

The following post is not suitable for those with a weak constitution. Or those currently eating while reading.

Today we mark the beginning of the end. The end of nappies!

Woohoo! Aidan did his first pee AND poo on demand in the toilet! It was a little one, hiding among the folds of the MOUNDS of toilet paper he likes throwing into the bowl, but there it was.

What celebration and rejoicing! (And I have spared you graphic photos.)

As a reward, he got to stick a star onto his potty training chart (although we don't use a potty - just straight onto the loo with a a training seat attached), and HAVE CHOCOLATE!!

Yum yum. Somehow, chocolate seems to suit the occasion (the colour brown, perhaps?)

Ok, I think I've grossed enough people out by now.

To wit, I say

My! Time flies when you're having fun. Or at least being so extremely busy you forget to blog!

Life has been really full lately, what with Tupp parties and writing for Meld and taking care of my darling talking motormouth of a two-year-old.

Did I mention what a motormouth he is? Talks non-stop, with so many words, and he's really communicating his wants, likes, dislikes. Although he sometimes also has the unfortunate habit of hitting things out of frustration. Like people.

In addition, I get the sneaky sensation I'm being conned most of the time. Case in point: On our trip to Tassie, EG wouldn't let him have the remote-control for the TV. He said, "Aidan, you've had enough TV." Then A starts to whine and cry, as you'd expect, and EG stayed firm, while A kept going on and on. Then suddenly, he stopped, looked at EG with a sly smile and said "Aidan, pretend cry!"

OMG.

You kinda know that kids are smart and manipulative, but you figure it's an unconscious move on their part, being unable to harness self-control. But I didn't imagine HE KNEW he was manipulative. Maybe on a subconscious level, but not overtly!

Now I know why my friend said kids are dead cunning.

Anyhoos, here's another recent video: A responding to a video of his Kaofu (Uncle).