Catch Up!

I just turned around, and September was done!  Before the day is over, I want to catch up on some pix from the last 4 weeks.  Shots from Friday play dates with my favorite 19 month-old and other September things:

GiGi's garden hat is on the move.

No more tip-toes needed
to turn the lights on-off-on-off-on-off.

The crazy thing is
GiGi's hat nearly fits.

Going to the pantry for . . .
(any guesses?)

. . . a bahnah.
Still a favorite, though now it's called by two names: bahnah and broom.

D fixed the drawer pulls.

 In addition to bahnah, Little Man played with cars and kucks, airpane and cot-ter.


The cot-ter has blue rotary blades,
in case you wondered what a cot-ter is.

The orange car (background) is a pillow
that Josie and Papi brought months ago
when they came for a visit.
D calls it Papi Car.

 While waiting for lunch, it was time to catch up on a few phone calls.

HEY-OH!

That number is 88888888888888888888888,
right?

We were on speaker phone . . .

. . . and someone really called!
Hey Yea sounds a lot like Papai.

 Daniel started Mother's Day Out in September.  Two days a week, he plays with his new friend (there are two toddlers in the class) and learns new words from his teacher Ms. Charlotte.  There's a shady playground, snack, lunch, and naptime on a mat on the floor.

No tears on the first day of  'school.'

At least no tears from Daniel.
Mamae wore the feather necklace that GiGi gave her before leaving Brazil,
to give her courage for Daniel's first day of school.
 

This year, for the first time in a really long time, I purchased season tickets to The Houston Ballet.  They were half-price!  The beauty of these performances, amazing professional dancers, choreography, lighting, sets, costumes, and a fantastic Houston Symphony Orchestra--I'm transported.  There were two ballets in September to start the season.

Steve was my date for the first performance of the season.
He's not mad; just doesn't especially like to have his picture taken.

My friend Jo joined me for the second ballet--The Merry Widow.
We both hummed the waltz all the way home.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch--

Not rubber bands.  Pasta.
And neither of us wore burnt orange--the color of that other university in the state.

D still played in the hose.
With temperatures in the low 90's throughout the month,
there was plenty of time to play outside in the shade.

Saggin'

Let me interpret this look.
Is this boca nao? or can I drink this cool agua?

A bucket for washing finger paint off the hands
and belly.

Daniel still loves to read books.  He points at every picture and wants to know what it is--if he doesn't know already.  I noticed he's getting a little bored with the same old format, so we played a new game.

GiGi said, "I Spy a . . .  "
and D filled in the blank.
One of his funniest new words:  pickemup.
It's what he calls paper clips, because he and Papai
play a game scattering and picking up paper clips.

Fall has arrived in Texas, according to the calendar.
GiGi brought out a big bag of acorns
for scooping and pouring.

With morning temperatures a little more bearable,
we took a pumpkin for a ride in the wagon.
See the drool?  Daniel is cutting all his 2-year molars at once.

What's September without Aggie football?!!
Uncle Dodo showed D how to take a hike from the center.



D took the football, turned, and ran down the hall.
All the time he ran yelling, "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

During a time-out on the field,
Daniel checked out Aunt Nana's computer
while Mamae (and Johnny Manziel) looked on.


H a p p y   F a l l ,   Y' a l l !
 

The Word of the Day Is . . .

Hi!  Ola!  It's me, Daniel.  I'm getting to be such a big boy now that I talk all the time.
 
I know my colors: ed, bue, ellow, purpa, pink, green, brown, gey.
 
I like to tell everyone about cars and kucks.  Ed car!  Bue kuck!  Ellow kuck!  Gey car!  Green bike!  Bike is anything with two or three wheels.  Airpane is up in the sky, and so is cot-ter.  Barco floats on the water.  Everyone needs to know these things.
 
I like to play outside with agua in the blue pool at GiGi and HeyYea's house.  There are lots of bird and some fowa (flower) and budda (butterfly) there too.  I see grass and green bush and tree.  And ant and bee.
 
I like to tell my people "xixi" when I pee in my diaper.  This makes them smile a little.  I also like to talk about who has boy parts like me, so I ask Mamae.  Papai?  Mamae says, "Papai ten."  Mamae?  Mamae no ten.  GiGi?  GiGi no ten.  HeyYea?  HeyYea ten.  This is important, right?
 
Book is one of my favorite things.  Mamae likes it when I read to her.  I like to sing Twinkle Twinkle and Baa Baa.  Aranha and Cai Cai Balao.  It's fun to dance too.  Whenever I see a T or a t, I call it twinkle.
 
Uh-Oh is one of my favorite new words.  Uh-Oh kacker! when my GiGi drops cookies on the floor.  Uh-Oh! when I see pieces of corn loose on the cob.  Uh-Oh spoon! Isn't that a cool word?!  
 
I know a lot about food and eating.  Spoon, cup, cool agua.  One day I surprised my GiGi when we were eating lunch together.  She picked up her cup to take a drink, and I was thinking really hard.  I said, "GiGi cool agua."  My GiGi was so excited.  I guess it's a big deal when someone says three words together.
 
But I like to talk about my favorite foods.  Banana and pasta are the only ones with just one name.  Everything else has two: apple/maca; orange/laranja; pineapple/abacaxi; strawberry/morango; bread/pao; juice/suco; cheese/queijo; rice/arroz.  Good!/Bom!  Mmmm!
 
There are lots of foods that I don't like right now.
 
I'll tell you a secret.  It's not really that I don't like foods, because Mamae and Papai cook good things.  It's just that I've discovered something very im. por. tant: I can say no!
 
I try to eat only my favorite things, but Mamae and Papai don't want to play by my rules.
 
I know so many words now, that I get all buzzy inside when my people don't understand what I want or when I don't have a word to tell them.  Sometimes they tell me no, even when I ask nice with "mais" and "peeze."  That makes me so mad and sad that I have to fall down on the floor like I'm wrestling with someone.  I growl.  I cry. I kick.  My people just stay all calm.  What's that all about?! 
 
I hear my people talk about the Terrible Two's--whatever that means.  My GiGi tells me I will be two in February, but I don't know what that means either.
 
I just know that I'm a big, big boy. Want to talk?