February 2013

February was

Itsy bitsy spiders and

Happy beating hearts

Between work trips and recovering from a nasty cold, Charlie got a lot accomplished with the bathroom renovation this month.  With Bruce's help of course, he got all the old floor tiles ripped up, the old bathtub cut out, and most of the plumbing for the new bathtub installed.  We've selected all the new tiles for the floor and tub surround (I think, almost) and are almost ready to install the new tub, new drywall, and get going on the tiling project.  Hopefully next month we'll have some finished photos to show off, but for now, here are some cute in-progress shots!

Bruce got his own tool set for this project!

just like daddy

Bruce is a completely different little boy this month!  He now will play with toys by himself, and enjoys playing with toys by himself - for a little while anyway.  He's invented lots of ways to interact with his different trucks and tractors and animals and various odds and ends from around the house.  One of his favorite things to do is park all of the animals and vehicles in the pig stall of his barn.  He gets a little frustrated when the big tractors don't fit, but finally is satisfied to shove them through the horse stall gate instead.  He also likes to make sure all of the animals and people get plenty to eat and drink, sharing his snacks with them and letting them lap up milk from his sippy straw.  He can make the best sound effects now, too.  Well, it's the same sound effect every time - like the last squirt out of a ketchup bottle - but he uses it in all sorts of situations which really animates his play times!  He's grown really fond of three stuffed animals in particular this month - Reveille (a singing/dancing A&M dog doll that ran out of batteries a long time ago), a monkey, and a Raggedy Andy doll.  He lovingly calls them his "oof" "mo-mo" and "Anny."  He totes them around the house, props them up on his rocking moose, gives them rides on his Batmobile, bathes them regularly, and remembers where they are at all times.

Communication with Bruce has grown by leaps and bounds, too!  Not only does he understand just about everything we say to him, but he's actually talking now!  It all really got going one cold, rainy day leaving Walmart.  I told Bruce, "It's nasty outside!" as we made a dash for the van.  He then gave his best attempt at "nasty" and the whole ride home it was back and forth between him and I saying "nasty."  And we've only added to the list from there.  For those of you who really care, I've included a Bruce-to-English translation chart below.  For those of you who don't really care that much, suffice it to say that he surprises us everyday with new words.  He will mimic a lot of words we say, but he initiates a lot on his own too.  He's been shaking his head "no" for awhile now, but will now nod "yes" too, which really helps us understand what he's wanting.  It's been such a fun added dynamic to our time with Bruce - I can't wait for more!

These are words he initiates, although imperfectly, on almost a daily basis:

Anny	Andy
bah	Ball, boy
baf	bath
behbow	elbow
Broof	Bruce
bubba	bubble
buh	book
caw	car
cawk	clock
coe-cuh	crocus
Dada	Daddy
doe	door
dut	dirt
eee	egg
foo	food
fuhvul	shovel
go	go
guh	girl
kicat	kitty cat
kiket	cricket
Mama	Mama
Mo-mo	monkey
moe	more
muh-muh	milk
nana	banana
no-no	no
Oof	dog
Papa	Papa (or any old man)
paw	paw (or hand)
peppa	pepper
pip	chip
see	sit
shoo-shoo	shoulder
shush	shoes
sish	fish
tahtar	guitar
tash	trash
tay	tail
teh	“T”
too	two
touch	touch
tractuh	tractor

Another fun, random thing about Bruce that's developed this month, is his fascination with the "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" song.  We go to the library every week for story time, and they always begin the time together by singing that song.  I didn't realize that he really paid attention that closely, but the other day, one of his toys that plays a lot of nursery rhyme songs played the "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and Bruce immediately put his fingers together, making his "spider" and got the biggest grin on his face.  That's the only song he wants that toy to sing now, so we have to push the button a thousand times to pass up all the others until it cycles around again.  We also found a lot of youtube versions to indulge him a little more, including this gem of ridiculousness that we've ashamedly viewed probably close to fifty times:  Itsy-Bitsy Spider

"spider fingers"

Probably the most exciting news we have to share this month though, is that we're expecting a baby this fall!  We're two months in so far, and everything is going well.  We had our first ultrasound last week and got the due date of September 27th.  Bruce was seemingly unimpressed, but we were excited to see the baby and hear the heartbeat!

I'm sure there were a thousand other things that happened this month, but I think we'll keep it somewhat short and sweet this time around.  We're looking forward March and the coming of Spring!

 

A windy walk on campus

Bruce's pet crickets

 

museum bug exhibit