I've gotten some new photos up. There are some really cute photos and videos of Michael from August; saying his ABCs, playing in his crib, and outside. And I've added pictures of the visit to Miller Zoo in Normal when we went to visit the Exners. Little Chicory is adorable and Eli and Anna are great kids. We had a great time down there and can't wait to get together again.
Over the last month Mike has been a learning sponge. he's soaking up everything around him. He knows all his uppercase letters and spends the time finding and naming letters all over the house. We have a bunch of magnetic letters that he names as he's arranging them on the fridge and floor. And he's learning his colors - he can identify and name red, orange, yellow, blue, white, and green. He's working on purple, black, and other colors like pink, silver, gray, etc. His two favorite colors are red and orange. Every morning we go through this routine (or something similar):
Me: Mike, what shirt do you want to wear today?
Mike: Red Shirt
Me: You're out of red shirts today. How about this one (hold up green shirt).
Mike: No! Orange Shirt.
Me: OK, how about this one, it's orange.
Mike: Uh huh!
He's also learning to count. He definitely has one and two down and is working on three and more. He counts his fingers by pointing to them in turn going "One, Choo, Da, Choo, Da, Choo!" And he's applying adjectives to things now, too. We have Big Rocks, Little Rocks, Red Cars, White Cars, Big Trucks, etc. And if he sees two red cars he points and says "Choo Red Cars" (including the plural 's'). We're really impressed and can't wait to see what the next few months have in store.
This weekend we went to Cornfest. This year Cornfest was held at the airport because they're beginning construction downtown. We went for a little while and saw airplanes (there was a B-17 Flying Fortress, a MiG, a crop duster, and a helicopter), ate some corn, showed Mike the carnival (he was too small to ride anything still), and saw Travis Tritt sing for a bit. We had a pretty good time, but it'll be more fun when Mike is a little older and can go on the carnival rides.
The airplanes were really cool though. The B-17 was very impressive. They were giving rides in it for $425 (we passed on that). Julie heard one guy say "$425! I'd only pay that if I could bomb something!". But Mike was fascinated by the planes, especially when we saw the B-17 take off. And they were also giving helicopter rides (for a more reasonable $25), but we passed on that too since the helicopter wasn't enclosed. But Mike liked watching it take off and land.
After the airplanes we got some corn (which Mike enjoyed thoroughly) and watched the carnival rides for a bit. Mike really wanted to try out some of the rides, but he's still too small. Maybe next year. On the way out we got to watch Travis Tritt sing for a bit. We didn't watch too long though because Mike was getting fidgety.
On the way back to the car Mike had to point out all the license plates and show us all the letters and numbers he knows. He also found the names of all the cars and found letters and numbers there, too. It was really cute. You can see the fascination in his eyes as he realized more and more that letters and numbers are everywhere. It won't be long before he realizes that they make words, too. Our little guy is growing up!
And, as promised, here is a video of Mike and I going through his ABC Book. He was a bit tired and easily distracted last night, so he wasn't getting all the letters he usually does, but it's still pretty cute. This is a short version of the video. There's an 8 minute version of us going through the whole book (most of it anyway) in the August photo album if you're interested. It's long, but cute.
Michael made pee pee in his potty today! After I took him out of the tub he pointed to his potty so I asked him if he had to go pee pee in the potty and he said "uh huh". So I put him down and he walked over to his potty, lifted the lid, and sat down. Then got up and found a toy, and sat down again. Then got up and closed the lid and sat on the top. Then got up, opened the lid and sat down again. This lasted for about 3 or 4 minutes and finally he sat on the potty with the lid up, made pee pee, and then got up and came over by me. I asked him if he had to make more pee pee in the potty and he said no. So I asked if he was done making pee pee in the potty and he said uh huh. So I started cheering for him and congratulating him. He was beaming and shouting Yay! I asked him "Who's a big boy?" and he raised his hand. Today is a great day in Michael's history!
I've been meaning to post this for a few days now, but wanted to wait until I got a video of it. But alas, I keep forgetting to take a video until night and then Mike is asleep. Anyway, since last weekend Mike has been learning his ABC's! He started recognizing a few letters at the end of last week (most notably O's). In just the past week he's gotten a sudden huge interest in letters.
I got out an alphabet book and he's working on learning all the letters now. He can repeat all their names after me and is now learning to identify them on his own. He can identify most of them all the time now and all of them some times. I point to the apple and say "Apple starts with..." and then point to the A on the page. Mike responds with "Aye". And he can do B, C, D, E (sometimes), F, G, H (usually), I, J (sometimes), K (sometimes), L (usually), M, N (sometimes), O, P, Q, R (usually), T, U (sometimes), V (sometimes), W, X, Y (sometimes), and Z (sometimes). And then he says "ABC's".
We're very proud of him, especially when he goes around the house finding all the letters he knows. He goes through magazines, books, clothes, mail, anything with letters on it and points out all the O's, W's, D's, A's, B's, I's, L's, H's, M's, S's (his current favorites), and any other letters that he can think of. And if he remembers the picture in his book he makes the sound or says the name of the object in the picture (OoohOooh for the Fire engine, Woo Wooo Woo and tapping his mouth for the Indian, Ho Ho Ho for Santa Claus, Hawse for the Horse, etc.). The best is when he says "Hot" for T because he drinks hot tea.
I'll do my best to get it all on video this weekend, but I just couldn't hold off posting any longer, especially after I caught him reading to himself in his room this evening. He was sitting in his chair with his ABC book in his lap looking at the Train going "Tee, Choo Choo, Huh". The "Huh" is how he says honk, which is the sound choo choos make when they go by and he waves.
In the mean time I've included a picture of Mike eating corn (from our garden) and wearing his new sunglasses.
This weekend we went to the Threshing Bee and Steam Show in Sycamore. It's a pretty cool festival with antique steam powered (and gas powered) tractors of all sorts. There's also a steam powered saw mill, train, petting zoo, and more.
The steam powered tractors were really cool. They looked like old steam locomotives and had whistles and everything. But the wheels on them were huge metal wheels with spikes for traction. We all thought they were really cool. And the old gas powered tractors were amazing, too. I never realized that tractors came in so many different shapes. A lot of the old ones looked very insect-like. They had spindly wheels and skinny fronts like some strange mutated wasp.
Unfortunately we left without seeing everything. Michael was too fascinated and since so many of the tractors had boilers they were all very hot. And it was very frustrating for Michael to see all the really cool tractors but not be able to go near them. So hopefully next year he'll be old enough to know that he's not supposed to touch the hot tractors. We can't wait!
After the airplanes we got some corn (which Mike enjoyed thoroughly) and watched the carnival rides for a bit. Mike really wanted to try out some of the rides, but he's still too small. Maybe next year. On the way out we got to watch Travis Tritt sing for a bit. We didn't watch too long though because Mike was getting fidgety.
Unfortunately we left without seeing everything. Michael was too fascinated and since so many of the tractors had boilers they were all very hot. And it was very frustrating for Michael to see all the really cool tractors but not be able to go near them. So hopefully next year he'll be old enough to know that he's not supposed to touch the hot tractors. We can't wait!
