Appeased by Salad

We experienced a mega-toddler fit tonight. Dinner was ready. Like parents across the land Jason and I were anxious to sit down and eat. Finley wanted to go outside. We're talking tears and screaming and clinging to Mama and writhing as if in terrible pain. We showed him the yummy dinner waiting for him on his plate, but that did not help the situation.

"Are you tired; do you want to go to bed?"

"No." Grasping for any possible strategy to get on with our dinner, worrying that this was not going to be a pleasant meal, Jason and I started down the slippery slope, offering him other, possibly more enticing, food.

"How about cheese?" No response.

"How about salad?" Finn stopped crying and appeared interested.

"In a little bowl?"

"A big bowl," he insisted. OK, a big bowl of salad. Holding our breath we gathered the salad and dressing and even offered croutons, waiting for this peace brokering to fall apart. I let Finn serve himself croutons while Jason poured his dressing. Within moments our toddler boy was happily munching on his salad. He ate three servings.

--JAK

Stage

Finley loves going to Oak Park's Sunday night concerts in the park. He is obsessed with "the band." I think this interest began back in June when a band performed at our block party. Last week Finn and I drove by the park where the concerts take place and he pointed out the empty stage, wondering where the band was. When we got home, he climbed up on his new stool and declared it a stage! He has continued to put on maracas concerts for us daily.

--JAK

Sharing with Hayden

As we were getting him ready for bed tonight, we were reminding Finn that his buddy Hayden is coming over to play tomorrow morning. The big focus of the conversation was whether and which toys he would share with Hayden. Finn is in his toddler prime the moment another kid wants to play with one of his toys. "Mine!" he shouts and grabs it away, even though he drops it a few seconds later and plays with something else. Oh my!

He seemed to be able to deal with the idea of sharing his books with Hayden, but not sure about letting Hayden use his cars, trucks, and trains. Then, just as I was about to sing and put him to bed, Finn said, "share trucks with Hayden." So we talked for a minute about how Hayden could have the green truck and he could have the white one. Then he said, "Finley white truck." So I suggested Hayden have the green one. "Hayden blue one." Really warming up the idea, Finn was settling down in his crib and said, "Share bed with Hayden." I probably shouldn't tell her parents about that comment!

--JAK

Road Trip!

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Finn added another state to his travel repertoire--"O-pie-0," the state where his Aunt Marie, Uncle Bob, and Cousin Eddie live in Hudson, outside of Cleveland. You don't need to ask Finn what he enjoyed most about the trip...he'll tell you, unprompted and out of context:

This morning when I got him out of his crib he was talking about the merry go round that we played on at the fabulous park in Hudson.

A number of times this week Finn has declared he was, "looking for deer," even among the skyscrapers of Chicago!

The choo-choo we watched cross the Cuyahoga River while we ate lunch. One train sighting was not enough for Finn. He demanded, "More choo-choo, Mama, more choo-choo, Mama" over and over again. (He also asked, as he does often and about many topics, "Where'd choo-choo go, Mama? Where'd choo-choo go?") Lucky for Finn, we saw four trains!

Other highlights of our trip:

-Finn and Eddie reading his Digger book.
-The delicious clam bake Aunt Marie made for us. Finn stuck his nose up at the clams, but loved playing with the shells!
-Finn's visit to the science museum while Jason and I snuck away to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
-Feeding the ducks.
-Kiddy Park.

--JAK

Ice cream! (Which Finn does not say, but yells.)

Thanks Grandma and Grampa!

Another Joey

Finn very often reminds me of my brother, the Joey I remember as a little kid. He has a charismatic energy that I believe he inherited from his Uncle Joe. Much of what makes him a fun, interesting, pleasure of a little boy shouts Joey to me. When Finn is acting goofy, he sometimes gets a look on his face that I would swear is straight from Joey. Finn will point out dirt or food on his hands and be unhappy about it, just like Joe used to do. Most of all, Finn likes to talk and my memory of Joey is a non-stop chatter box. At this point, Finn's non-stop talking is often very funny because it is so darn repetitive, yet logical. On the way to meet Jason at the train today, a 10-minute walk, Finn and I sustained a sort of conversation.

"Where'd _________ go, Mama?" is a common refrain in Finn's non-stop talking. We see a dog and its owner walking toward us, talk about the doggie, and say, "hi" to the doggie. Once the dog is behind us, Finn immediately starts asking, "Where'd doggie go, Mama?" over and over again.

I told him we were going to dinner at the Avenue Ale House and we would get to eat outside, on the roof. Finn pointed to the roof of the house we were passing by saying, "eat on the roof." He then spent the next few minutes looking at various roofs and repeating, "eat on the roof." We discussed how we would need a ladder to climb on the roof, even though Finley is not allowed to climb ladders, just Mommy and Papa.

Finn's conversation also involves a lot of narration or commentary. "Man...an on a bike...not wearing helmet," Finn describes as we both watch a non-helmet wearing man ride his bike past us down the street.

--JAK