Monkey see, monkey do

The hinge on our oven door broke, and due to the timing of the holidays and a miscommunication with getting the part ordered, this has been our solution to keeping the oven door shut.


Clearly, this has gone on too long. The other morning we noticed the newest addition to Asher's kitchen.


And to add to our holiday cheer, our dishwasher also broke. At least it had the good grace to wait until AFTER our holiday guests had departed.

I hate to admit it, but right now we kind of miss apartment living.

First Movie Night

Observations on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

1) It is a lot longer than I remembered

2) If you are 2, there are some scary parts

We didn't get through the whole thing, only the first hour and a half, and then it was time for bed. I'm starting to wonder if the second part will be too scary for him. He was pretty alarmed when the car went over the cliff (not helped by the fact that it then cuts to a black "intermission" screen).

Snow Day

All is calm...

Don’t they look precious?

Unfortunately we spent the 5 minutes they were actually sitting peacefully at the table to take pictures to commemorate the moment. By the time we sat down to eat, they were up and running circles. Ah well, at least we have proof of those 5 minutes.

Christmas, A Very Confusing Holiday

As a one-year old, Asher loved this ornament that my mom gave us. He kept pushing the button over and over to hear the song, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas".

This year, as a two year old, he has an even a deeper fascination.

First there is trying to figure out what is going on visually.

"What she doing?" (everyone is a she, he hasn't figured out male pronouns yet)

And then there's figuring out the words to the song.

"She no want a doll? Want a hippopotamus?"

I think we spent well over an hour discussing it when I first brought it out.

And then he would just sprinkle references to it randomly throughout the day.

"She no want a doll. She want a hippopotamus." "Hippopotamus TOO BIG! No fit."

Apparently Christmas can inspire some pretty deep questioning.

Santa's Lawnmower

If I had known we were going to see Santa I would have dressed Asher in a nicer outfit. Oh well.

When we got home Asher knowledgably told his dad that Santa was sitting on a lawnmower.

He was also adamant that he did smile for the photo when Deenesh asked.

Away in the Manger

Our manger has a new addition.

A blanket.

Asher insisted that the baby needed a blanket. It might not be as fancy as Asher's blue blanket, it seemed to appease Asher.

In placing the blanket, Asher was very insistent that the blanket should not cover the baby's face.

Which makes tonights sleeping Asher picture all the more humorous.

I'm not sure why, but I also find it amusing that it is 2 of the wise men charged with the task of looking over baby Jesus, while Mary confers with another wise man in the background, and Joseph lurks in the stable. I have already started coming up with stories to explain the arrangement...

A special announcement for our loyal blog readers

Since September we’ve been asking Asher if he wants a brother or a sister.

He’s been remarkably consistent. He has always said sister. More recently he will sometimes say, “sister” pause “brother” pause “both!”

But he is very consistent about the sister.

Of course, he doesn’t know yet the difference between a boy and a girl, or a brother and a sister. And if you ask him if he wants to be a brother or a sister, he will say sister.

But he must know something, because we found out today.

It's a girl.

Another bedtime story

Writing the last post about sleep reminded me of another story I never got around to telling...

When we moved back to the Red House, Asher loved the house,

(Asher's first look at the house)

but he did NOT like his room.

When we first showed it to him and said "Asher's room!" he took one look and simply said "no."

Needless to say this did not lead to peaceful bedtimes or nap times.

As a result, we would cave, and let him sleep on the couch.

Or the floor.

Or the floor after he rolled off the couch.

(Please note the two pillows and blankets that had been considerately placed on the floor just in case he fell off the couch)

Or the boat at Jamestown Settlement.

(Just kidding)

And yes, even the closet.

(Not kidding)

Really, we aren't bad parents for putting him in the closet. We were trying to convince him to go take a nap when he wanted to play hide-and-seek in the closet.

Out of desperation Deenesh asked him, "do you want to just sleep in the closet?"

And well, he did.

PS Since I'm a stickler for details I feel obliged to confess that Asher didn't do well sleeping in these alternate locations and these photos were the exceptions. Generally he just had to tough it out in his room. But the point is we were desperate enough to try.

PPS Except the closet. He did actually sleep pretty well in the closet.

Asleep in his bed

Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping child?

I think it is the contrast between the tornado of activity that characterizes them when they are awake that makes their sleeping time seem so remarkabley peaceful.

Not that Asher is all that peaceful of a sleeper. As you can probably tell, Asher has inherited his father's tendency to move a lot when he sleeps. We'll frequently hear a loud bang in the middle night that is Asher crashing against the side of his bed as he changes position. Fortunately his new bed manages to contain him pretty well.

I also recently discovered that I can take photos of Asher after he falls asleep and the flash doesn't wake him up. Needless to say, I've been taking a lot more sleeping Asher photos lately.

Hmm...I just realized I've written on this topic before.

Where's the money?

Asher's friend Stella had her birthday party on Sunday, and Asher got to go and mingle with the older crowd (that's right, 5 and 6 year olds!)

There was a magician who transfixed the crowd of kids with amazing tricks with appearing and disappearing doves and rabbits, rope tricks, scarf tricks, card tricks - the whole shebang. He even made the birthday girl float! It was pretty great. Asher got called up and he found all sorts of money in Asher - in his ears, his hair, his sweater. He even helped Asher make money appear out of thin air!

Once we got home Deenesh turned Asher upside down and shook him to see if there was any more money hidden in there.

Stella was very sweet. At the end of the party when Asher went looking for her to say goodbye, she was hiding in the closet with 3 of her friends and dozens of others running around. Despite being in the midst of a game when Asher boldly approached the closet to declare "I need a hug!", Stella stepped right out and gave him a big hug.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Tonight, Asher helped me assemble our Manger.

He decided to put the baby Jesus at the very back of the Manger because the baby would "sleep better" there.

If you look closely, you'll notice all the people are gathered around the cow instead. Perhaps his Hindu ancestry is asserting itself.

I also considered titling this post "nobody puts baby in the corner"

Turning Point

Well, it only took 3 months, and I hesitate to mention it for fear of jinxing it, BUT it appears that Asher has finally started to adjust to his new daycare.

Really, who can blame him for having such a hard time? His daycare environment went from a warm loving home, with two adults and 2 other kids (with lots of other family members around on a regular basis), to a room with 2 teachers and 15 or more other kids.

Still, I didn't see it coming. Based on our visit where he played on the playground with the rest of the class while we finished the tour, and he marched in line when they came in, and showed no distress at all, and given his general laid back attitude and abundance of confidence, I just did not anticipate 3 months of sobbing every time we dropped him off. Or every morning him asking us "no go to school today?" and then the dread that would accompany an affirmative response.

Deenesh and I have always really liked his daycare. They do yoga, and learn Spanish and sign language. They have great facilities, and happy, positive, caring teachers. So it's a relief that Asher seems to be starting to agree with us.

We tried a lot of different tactics to help him adjust. We made up a special song about going to school. We would load up his special teddy bear with mommy and daddy kisses so he could get them whenever he wanted throughout the day. We spent time talking about how fun school is, and the fun things you do at school, and the people you get to spend time with. We gave him special school-only snacks for lunchtime (like go-gurt!)

Of course, the goat on the slide probably helped.

And I think the pony ride didn't hurt either.*

And I'm not going to question the fact that the big turning point seemed to happen the week that I was at a conference in San Francisco, because the fact of the matter is, I am just so relieved that for the last 3 weeks, we haven't left a sobbing toddler at daycare, but have left something like this instead.

*No, the school does not normally have goats are ponies in the playground. They had a special fall festival with animals and special crafts in each room, and I will admit that that seemed to be the start of him revising his opinion about school. But the real breakthrough did come when I was in San Francisco.

Fishie pajamas

It's funny what will stick in a 2-year old's head.

The other evening when it was time to get into his pajamas, Asher declared that he wanted to wear the fishie pajamas. That is, mommy's fishie pajamas.

So we pulled them out. And rolled them up, and up, and up. And cinched them as tight as possible.

Despite our best efforts, they proved to be too cumbersome and he decided to trade them in for the more practical helicopter pajamas.

Happy Hanukkah

When he saw the candles for the menorah Asher started singing Happy Birthday.

Which wasn’t too bad since it is also his cousin Alex’s birthday.

It did take a fair bit of convincing that unlike birthday candles you do not blow out the candles on the menorah.

And he wasn’t all that in to wishing people a “Happy Hanukkah”. He settled instead of “Happy Birthday for Hanukkah”.

Nana came over for the lighting of the candles and also gave Asher some very cool stackable people that his mom and dad loved playing with and that he loved knocking down. We also skyped with Bubbe, Ravi, Alex and Jordan; and Asher belted out his rendition of "Dreidel" - which is mainly just repeating the word over and over again. Asher drank apple cider “with” Bubbe and they “cheered” through the computer. We all got to sing Happy Birthday to Alex and Asher had a great time helping her blow out her re-lighting candles.

“It’s a new bed!” – Asher exploring his Hanukkah present – wrapped up in a blanket.

Not to worry, he got it figured out.

Links to Hanukkah past

2009 1 and 2

2008

Hair Donation

Ten inches of hair for donation!
After looking into different organizations I chose to donate to Pantene Beautiful lengths because their wigs are made for cancer patients, as opposed to hair loss due to other ailments.

And I'm loving my new hairdo! Particularly how quick it is to take care of it.

Asher's favorite video

This is Asher's favorite video right now.

He wants to watch it over and over and over again.

Thanksgiving Report

It’s probably been about 6 years since Deenesh and I gave up on traveling for Thanksgiving and have just the whole turkey shabang for ourselves. So it’s a nice bonus to have my mom living down the street so we can actually have a family Thanksgiving this year.

My mom very delicately broached the subject with me as to how we would proceed with the meal. Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday so this was a serious business. We decided to do it at our house and then we got to the sensitive business of divvying up the food preparation. Mom quickly volunteered to do the turkey and the stuffing. And the mashed potatoes. And the minced meat pie and the cranberry pudding.

“Um. So we’ll take care of the vegetables?” I said.

“Okay. That sounds good.” She replied.

Some might think I might take offense that perhaps she was questioning my cooking abilities, or that I would feel sad at missing out on Thanksgiving preparation.

Those people clearly don’t know me. All I could think was “score!”

So the meal was wonderful. Mom came over to do the preparation, Asher picked out the turkey himself (yeah Trader Joe’s for antibiotic free humane turkey), I helped peel potatoes, and Deenesh took Asher out to the playground.

Before my mom came over I was scrubbing down the kitchen and trying to dodge the helpful advances of my 2 year old ("I do it! I clean!) until I finally had the brainstorm to send him to his own kitchen to scrub it down.

He did a very thorough job.

In the end, it was probably cleaner than my kitchen.

Ah Asher. After coming home from the playground draped over his father in a semi-comatose state after having used up all his energy at the playground (and then forcing his dad to carry him all.the.way.home), he then rallied. We put him down for a nap at 1:30. At 3:30, yes TWO HOURS LATER and when he would normally be waking up - he was still going strong singing to himself and chatting in bed. (I tried to get in a nap myself, but it was difficult to get any sleep over his chatter). He finally drifted off around 3:40.

So it’s perhaps no surprise that he looks pretty spacey-drowsy in all the photos since he ended up with a much shorter nap than normal.

The meal turned out beautifully, though Asher maintained his long-time disdain for all things green “I no like it” (to the point that he tries insisting he won’t eat until he takes the one.single.green.bean off his plate), took small, forced bites of mashed potatoes (!) and cranberry jelly, before also declaring “I no like it”.

So he basically stuck to the stuffing and the turkey, eventually concluding that he really only wanted turkey with skin. *sigh* what happened to our kid that would try anything?

After dinner we took our desserts to our neighbor's house to join in their dessert family extravaganza, the highlight of which was the adorable kid parade running around the house with Asher bringing up the rear.

Click here for Asher's first and second Thanksgiving posts.

Domestic Goddess

Today I made homemade noodles to add to the turkey soup Deenesh made from leftovers.

We had a LOT of leftovers.

The recipe was pretty simple, I remembered seeing it a while back on one of the blogs that I follow.

Of course, it would have been much easier if I actually owned a rolling pin.

Then the noodles probably wouldn't have been quite so thick.

And probably would have been a lot nicer looking.

But Asher assured me that they were delicious.

And I thought they were fantastic.

Deenesh declined to have any soup. He claimed he was full.

(Despite the facial expression in the photo Asher really did love the nooodles. I think Deenesh was just setting me up to look bad with this photo).

Asher's Driving Tips

Patience:
I must admit that driving in Williamsburg can try one’s patience. The other day, in mild annoyance after watching someone wait forever to make a right-hand turn with no discernable traffic within miles, I finally honked. Asher, back-seat driving as usual, said, "Patience Daddy, no no beep." Of course, a few minutes later at the next traffic light when everyone was stopped, Asher asked me to beep.

Encouragement:
Today, I was driving on one of Williamsburg notorious areas for tourists, and the driver ahead of me ended up holding traffic by not using an available turning lane. I may have muttered a “friggen idiot” under my breath. Later, I was turning into the library and someone was making a very slow turn in front of me, when Asher said, “Daddy, say F%#K.”

Before anyone makes any judgments, I always drive carefully with Asher in the car, and he has made me be more patient even when I am driving alone (sad to say, but my two-year old is my super-ego). But, I guess Tracy and I have both been guilty of potty mouth.

Red House

I hate to say it, but I think our beloved red house might be mad at us.

In the 3 months since we’ve been back 1) the hot water heater has broken 2) the grinder pump has failed 3) we’ve had a leak in our ceiling and now 4) the water pipe to the kitchen sink sprung a leak.

When we tried to get the water turned off the brittle hose tore further causing a massive spray of water. Since our kitchen is upstairs the water then started pouring through the light fixture in the laundry room. It was practically comical – kind of like a sitcom, or one of those 80’s home fixer-uper movies.

So is it just me or does it seem like our house was mad at us? I thought perhaps it was because we left it for 2 years, but upon further reflection I recalled the massive water clog/back-up we had in the master bath just a few short weeks after we brought Asher home from the hospital. A back-up that caused massive black sludge to come up both sinks and tub, that came with a horrible smell, and that threatened to require cutting a hole through the master bedroom wall and an extensive pipe replacement (which was thankfully avoided after several water vacuums, plunges, snaking and finally air blasts), and which put the master bath largely out of commission for about two weeks right when we had a new baby and several out of town guests.

That’s right. A new baby. So perhaps the house isn’t mad at us so much as jealous.

After all. Before Asher, Casa Roja was our one and only pride and joy.

So I’m not sure what we need now. An exorcism? A reintegration ceremony to assure our home that we still love it just as much as before Asher came into our lives?

Otherwise, we might have to make some kind of child sacrifice because I don't think we can handle much more house surprises.

Babble-On

There’s so many things I wish I could capture about Asher at this age (well, all ages really) that just cannot be captured in a post or in a photo, or even in a video (since he is bound to see the video and then start begging to use it). One of the things I hope I will remember forever is the adorable babbling/ramblings that Asher frequently does when he is going to sleep or when he has just woken up. Frequently you can only understand a couple words here and there, but the other day he was particularly verbal. While there was much I couldn’t understand, here are some of the things that I caught

“go to timeout….go to timeout…go to timeout…blankie! Yeah!”

“No, Asher daddy, no MY daddy! Daddy! Yeah! Asher daddy. My!”

“Daddy take that car? That car! Yeah!!! Nooo, daddy take that car? No that car!! Yeh!! I like it!”

“bleh, don’t like it. Bleh, don’t like it. I like this. I like it. I like this lots. Oh wow! I like it lots, oh wow.”

“Band-aid? YEAH! Band-aid, no. No band-aid. I have owie, need band-aid. Okay? My band-aid. Need band-aid. I have owie, I need band-aid. Owie. Okay mommy? Okay? Ow. Ow. Mommy scratch. Look at that. ” (he didn’t have an owie. It’s more like he was practicing what he needed to say later to convince me to give him a band-aid).

He kept it up for an HOUR. Usually it only takes him 5-10 minutes to get to sleep after I leave the room (although the process of putting him down usually takes a while).

On this occasion I found him standing on his bed looking out the window at the car – and more specifically the spot of Deenesh’s missing car. He then informed me that he was waiting for Daddy to come home so that he could say hi. Ambitious plan since his Dad wouldn’t be home for another several hours.

Modern Art Appreciation

This morning Asher took his fall leaf with tissue paper colors pasted on that he made at school off of the refrigerator and in its place he hung up the napkin I had just used to wipe oatmeal off his face.

I figured, who am I to judge his taste in art? So I left it there.*

*Well, at least until he spilled something. I prefer art with a purpose.

In praise of imaginary dogs. Or Why Asher does not need a (real) dog

As you’ve heard, for the last several week Asher has had a wonderful imaginary dog that he puts out on the porch to sleep every night, brings inside every morning, and plays with every day.

I’ve found that imaginary dogs have several advantages over real dogs.

Advantages of an imaginary dog

• 1. Easy to train
• 2. No begging for food
• 3. They can go anywhere – in a museum, in a restaurant, in someone’s home, and nobody bats an eye
• 4. They aren’t smelly
• 5. You don’t have to clean up after them
• 6. They never make you feel guilty about not giving them enough attention or enough walks
• 7. Appear and disappear as needed. Need a distraction? A simple “stop licking me!” “doggie down!” “does doggie need to go outside?” can do the trick. Bored and want to move on to something else? No guilt.
• 8. Wonderful companion in the car, and simply disappear at the end of the car trip (avoiding any “you can’t leave your dog in a locked car” complaints)

Advantages of a real dog

1. 1. Um. Well. I guess they’re soft and warm.
2. 2. Okay, fine. There’s also that warm fuzzy feeling they give you when they greet you and cuddle with you.

All in all though, I have to say I would recommend and imaginary dog to any parent with a toddler.

Asher Needs a Dog!

Sunday morning I was watching Asher, and bad parent, trying to follow the NY marathon and encouraging Asher to amuse himself. Asher decided to pretend to be a dog, and I would half-hearted pat his head every once in a while. After a few minutes of this, Asher bit my toes, hard, and then told me to say bad doggy.

Asher also has an invisible dog who we have to let in every morning. The other day he wouldn't let Doggie in. I asked him why, and he told me Doggie was in timeout because he kept licking Asher.

Happy Halloween

Asher really enjoyed Halloween this year.

I was a little nervous that he wouldn't want to wear his costume, but he wore it to a Halloween party on Friday, and then on Halloween morning he wanted to put his big, blue monster costume right away.

When our neighbor, Stella, saw that Asher was already in his costume, she put on her peacock costume and they played together in the yard.

Asher REFUSED to take it off for nap time.

We have the best. neighbors. ever. One of our neighbors came up with the idea to pull a small keg with cups around on a wagon as we went trick-or-treating. We got candy and everyone not in a costume got drinks (hat costumes excepted).

And just when we thought we were done with the evening we decided to take a quick trip to visit our friends to show off Asher's 5 eyes, 4 arms, 2 horns, and big belly. They had brought their kids by for Halloween visits back when we had nobody to whom to hand out candy.

Adorable right? Their kids have since gotten bigger, and moved on to slightly more scary costumes. Asher's monster costume fit right in.

Well, we ended up sticking around for MORE trick-or-treating. Asher got to chase after 7 year old Tessa, along with her neighbor friend and the neighbor's younger brother (born same day and same hospital as Asher). He had a blast. Although it was difficult to convince him to put the candy in the bag, rather than carrying it himself. You'd think he didn't trust Deenesh or me with the candy.

At one house a young werewolf answered the door, and right away Asher turned right around and said "Up! No more!" We talked about how it was a little scary and after that whenever there was a house with good Halloween decorations he would turn to us and say "Up. Little scary."

Overall, a really great evening.

2 cute stories

Story 1

The other night Asher was cranky so we ate some apples and I started doing a little song and dance of "I love delicious food". Not a real song, just repeating the line over and being silly. Asher enjoyed it and then he told me to stop singing so he could sing. He started singing "Mommy loves delicious" and dancing, but he is only two so it sounded much more like "Mommy loves dishes! Mommy loves dishes!"

Or perhaps he was just hinting that I really needed to take care of those dishes in the sink.

Story 2

I was out of cash and so I asked Deenesh if he had any so that I could avoid going to the ATM. He checked his wallet and reported back "I have no money" at which point Asher, little hero that he is, jumped up, yelled "I have money! I have money!" and he ran to the little bowl where we keep the change. He brought it to me and proudly presented me with a shiny quarter.

Mischief Maker

A former student of Deenesh's took this photo at WM homecoming this weekend. I appreciate that the label on his shirt matches the glint in his eyes.

Confessions

In the last 24 hours Asher has

1) gotten a bloody lip after tripping and falling into the coffee table

2) gotten a black eye after tripping and falling into same coffee table (but in a separate incident)

3) gotten his hand caught in a door

I think it's probably a good thing he doesn't have school tomorrow or they might feel like they have to call CPS.

In other news of good parenting we let Asher eat a plate of French Fries for dinner tonight.

Favorite Age

Let it be known that at 2 years and 3 months, I think this might just be my favorite age so far.

Before I jinx it by saying that, let me state that there is still plenty I am not a fan of at this age. For instance,

1. 1. Whininess and tantrums
2. 2. Complete dislike for sharing, even if it’s a food he doesn’t like or is too full to eat (although I will say in the last few weeks, he’s gotten better, and if you ask him to share, he is likely to give you a bite. But a small one)
3. 3. Has to be the one to do everything, open the door, close the door, pour the milk, and if you forget for even an instant, a meltdown ensues.
4. 4. To motivate him to do common tasks (brushing teeth, eating dinner, picking up a toy, going to get an item), we have to play the game of saying he can’t do it, or say that we are going to do it. He won’t just do it if we ask him to do it (or he will say he will but will just wiggle around and not actually do it).

But then, there’s so very much that I love about this age. Here are some recent highlights, and just some random memories that make me happy (since it’s been, oh, a while, since I last posted).

1. 1. Even though it can be annoying, I love his independence. I love that there are so many things that he can do for himself, and that he wants to do. And it’s awfully cute when he corrects our behavior (“Feet down!” )
2. 2. He says “bless you” when we sneeze.
3. 3. He loves to help.
4. 4. So sweet and loving. Huge hugs and kisses.
5. 5. Physically I just can’t imagine him ever being cuter. His face, his mannerisms, his cute little toddler body. How when he runs it is with the gusto of a toddler but is on the verge of being a real, kid gait.
6. 6. Mentally it is fascinating to watch him put together ideas and thoughts. And then to make real sentences (though rudimentary) out of those thoughts. And to just hear how his thought process goes with new ideas.
7. a. For instance, in the car he was eating a peach and got to the pit. Asher: “No eat?” Me: That’s right, no eat. Asher: “Daddy, eat?” Me: “Oh no. No one eats it. Daddy no eat it. Mommy no eat it. Maybe an elephant. Maybe an elephant will eat it. Asher: Long pause then, “Hand it to elephant? No throw it?”
8. 7. Initiates new games. Like saying “no kiss me!” after I kiss him, but then giving me a kiss, thus resulting in a kissing war until we both end up laughing like crazy.
9. 8. If his trains fall off the track he kisses them better before he puts them back on the track.
10. 9. Me: “do you know how much I love you?” Asher: “too much!”
11. 10. The other day the three of us were walking and playing on the Jamestown beach and we were having one of those truly perfect evenings together, and Asher looked up at me and said wistfully, “No go home?” And it so perfectly captured all of our feelings of wanting the moment to last forever.
12. 11. Asher will sometimes throw things that he should hand to us – not to be naughty, but because he is two. The other day he threw his toothbrush at me and I gave it back and said “Please hand it to Mommy” He threw it again and I handed it back and said “No, hand it to mommy” and he sighed, came over to me, and patiently arranged my hands the way we arrange his so that he can catch a ball, and then he tossed the toothbrush into my hands.
13. 12. In the last week he has suddenly quadrupled his bedtime entourage. In addition to Gobi, he now also is accompanied to bed by the 1) teddy bear 2) an old stuffed dog of Deenesh’s and 3) a wooden cat. (This is a sudden transformation since until this time he has had no interest whatsoever in anything stuffed).
14. 13. We recently bought him a belt and slippers. For some reason he loves them. This morning Deenesh woke up with Asher and I could hear from the other room “My belt! My belt!” until Deenesh put the belt on over Asher’s pajamas. Tonight he fell asleep with his belt on (again, over his pajamas). And he loves putting his slippers on (even though they frequently don’t stay on long) and wants to wear his slippers to various locations.
15. 14. The other day when I was cuddling him before nap, I rested my cheek on the top of his head and he pipes up and said “kiss it!”

Downward Dog

This morning I woke to Asher shouting from his room, "Come look, Mommy. Mommy, come look!"

I dutifully dragged myself out of bed to find Asher doing the Downward Dog yoga pose on his bed.

"Dog Under!" he declared it.

"Downward Dog" I agreed. He then repeated it several times.

They officially learned the pose in daycare yesterday but he's been doing it for quite some time with his Dad and it is Asher's favorite pose. He'll frequently do it just when he gets really wiggly.

It hadn't occurred to me that he'd be excited to learn that the pose had a name, we never thought to tell him the names of the different poses.

It also makes sense that he would have renamed it "Dog Under" since it's a pose that he will crawl under while his Dad is doing it, and that he will do over his train tracks so that his train goes under him.

Stairs

Last night when we got home it was time to eat dinner and Asher was dawdling and refusing to take off his shoes.

"Shoes ON!"

So I told him that if he didn't take off his shoes he was going to have to eat his rice there on the stairs.

When I put the rice on the table I saw that he had taken his shoes off, so I was surprised when he yelled in protest, ran over to the table, grabbed his bowl of rice and marched back to the stairs.

Apparently, he didn't realize it was a threat. He thought it was a promise.