Excuse Me Sammy!

Recently Noah has been running around with anything stick-like in his hand such as a straw, a wooden spoon, or old paper towel roll. I also have been taking him to a playgroup to provide him a chance to socialize with kids his age. The first playgroup we attended it was a birthday party and they had a pinata.

So naturally, I was not shocked when at home he began to swing his stick and say "pinata!" He pretends his sticks are lots of things...a magnifying glass like Sid the Science Kid, a "Why Writer" like Super Why holds and says zap to change words in story books, drumsticks, microphone, you name it...we are using our imagination! Then he began saying "Excuse me Sammy" and he would swing his stick. I asked him who is Sammy? He just laughed. Matt and I discussed any Sammy that we may have encountered. No Sammy at playgroup and no Sammy on any TV show we have watched. We were stumped. Noah found this to be hilarious.

Over several days we would say "Who is Sammy?" He would say Pinata.
I asked "Is Sammy a boy or girl?" He answered, "a boy."
I asked "Where have we seen Sammy?" First answer: the roof. Hmmm. Not helpful. Second answer: TV. Okay now we are getting somewhere. But neither Matt or I could come up with any Sammy we had seen on TV.

Then one night as Matt did bedtime routine, I was relaxing on the couch and watching some TV. A Verizon commercial came on where a man and woman were standing in their yard. The women held a handful of candy and said this represents the 10 friends and family that we can call. Then the man says, "and this, "EXCUSE ME SAMMY" as he takes a stick out of a boy's hand and hits a pinata and candy pours out, "represents everyone in the Verizon network. Don't eat Aunt Marsha."

As Matt came downstairs after putting Noah to bed, I said, "I know who Sammy is."

CLICK HERE:
Link to commercial

2 Years Old

Happy Birthday! Noah is 2!

Noah turned 2 on May 24th, 2009. We visited Matt's family up in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. We had a great time! A couple of weeks before that my parents were down for a visit. Noah has really progressed in warming up to people in a shorter period of time.

I thought I would write a few notes to remember all the things he can do at age 2.
Sing songs
Hold and strum a ukelele aka "baby guitar" while singing.
Drums and keeps a beat.
Dances and recently learned how to hop. We hop all the time.
Quote lines from books or request them by title
Count to 20 and then some, identify 1-9
Alphabet: sing his abcs, letter recognition, initial letters and sounds of words
Has a memory like an elephant! He remembers things that took place months ago.
He loves to rhyme.
Pronounce just about any word we give him. The longer ones he likes the best. He parrots our speech all the time and picks out the longest words.
Matt has been teaching him the names and values of coins. I asked him what he had the other night. He said , "nickel...5 cents". I had been working on addition while singing "This Old Man". I said 5 and 5 make...and he said Ten.

His favorite song is Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall. He calls it the WooHoo song. He also likes Suddenly I See. He cannot sleep without his "Daddy Lion", pictured above. He sucks his two fingers while rubbing one of his eyeballs. This is our new security blanket. The letter I is forgotten.

Pee Pee in the Potty!

Noah is just a couple of days away from being 22 months old.  Almost 2!!!  Today we reached a new milestone.  He went pee in his potty!!!  I was getting him ready to take a bath and just before I put him in the tub, I sat him on his potty.  I told him to go pee pee and he did just a little tinkle. 

Of course it got lots of praise from mom and dad.  I told him what a big boy he was.  He repeated Big boys go pee pee in the potty.  

Then he said, "big boys eat carrots", something he heard this from Matt earlier in the week.  Well, our baby is certainly turning into a big boy right in front of our eyes.  

Since my last post he has grown so much!  He is talking like crazy! 

He can count to 25 and knows the alphabet.  He sings the song and can recognize all the 

letters and numbers.  He loves to sing and read.  He asks for books and songs by title.  He speaks in full sentences, 

such as "Mommy, Daddy, Baby go outside to the park."  He is our precious little boy. 

 

He continues to amaze us everyday.

Hold You

Last night Noah woke up crying a couple of times.  I am not sure if he is having nightmares or is afraid of the dark.  He is soothed by rocking and then I lay him back down.

Tonight I went through our usual bedtime routine: bath time, books, singing, then to bed.  He was yawning and relaxed.  I put him down in his crib and could hear him talking to himself.  After 5 minutes his talking became crying.  I went up to his room and rubbed his back.  He stood up and began grabbing at my arms.  I told him it was time to sleep.  He fussed and I asked him what is wrong.  He said "hold you".  "You want mommy to hold you", I said.  When I rocked him he said "bump head".  I wondered if he bumped his head by running around or jumping in his bed.  Then he said "ABC".  I began softly singing the ABC song.  He relaxed and soon was twisting his body to get down.  He then walked to his crib and stepped on the side.  I lifted him up and said goodnight.  

The Letter "I"

For Noah's first birthday we bought an alphabet floor mat. It fits together like a giant puzzle and the letters act as puzzle pieces as well. At first the whole mat was down and then I decided to focus on a few letters. I made a smaller mat with all the vowels and the consonants of our names N for Noah, M for Mommy, D for Daddy and B for baby and Baba (Chinese for Daddy). He would stand on the letter and say the word that it was associated with it. Of the vowels he first liked the letter O, but then it changed to the letter I.

"I" went everywhere with us. When he woke up, the first order of business was to find "I". It would act as an indoor stick and went with us in the car, to the store, and a few times he slept with "I". One day I came home from work and toys were spread out all over the living room from the morning's play. Noah began to say "I" and look around. I did not see it and figured he would either find it or move on and play with the other toys strewn all over the floor. He went down the hallway and began to wimper. I went to him and asked him what was the matter. He said in a sad voice "I". He was delighted when we found it in the kitchen.

I couldn't believe it! The letter "I" has become his security item. Not a blanket...not a stuffed animal...it is all about the letter "I".

This event happened the week before Thanksgiving, just before he turned 18 months.
These days he is less attached to "I". The other day I mixed the letter "I" in with his other letters. Tonight he began asking about "I", so I helped him find it in the basket with the other letters. He loves the Alphabet and sings parts of it. Tonight while taking a bath he said "TUVWX". A few weeks ago he said the string "IJKL".

Thanksgiving Week

It has been a busy time getting ready to host Thanksgiving at our home.  I have not blogged for a while.  Noah continues to surprise us with his development.  He has become a little language sponge.  I took the whole week off and loved the extra time spent with him!  

Blog worthy notes:

NOAH, MOMMY & DADDY!

Noah began saying NO-AH since we have stressed the AH in his name.  Before this, he would refer to himself as NoNo.  He also was able to get down MOMMY and DADDY instead of Mama and Dada/BaBa (Chinese for Daddy).

Two word sentences: Mama sneeze.

I sneezed the morning after Thanksgiving while feeding him breakfast.  He said, "Mama sneeze."

Bow/NO Bow

I worked with him on the differences between his teddy bears.  Two are white, two brown, and one black.  Some are big and some small.  3 have bows around their neck.  1 wears a red sweater with a heart.  1 has nothing--this one is "No Bow".  After a quick 5 minute lesson on the differences, Noah began repeating the words and concepts I taught him about the bears.  He repeats them on his own now.  He is just gobbling up language. 

Heart

Since learning the heart shape from the bear and other things like books.  Noah sees the heart shape in other places and is able to identify and say the word "heart" without us telling him first what it is.

Aunt Sonya & Uncle Dave

We are so fortunate that they were able to come down early and help us clean, shop, cook, and spend time with Noah.  Noah still remembers their names.  He makes his letter I dance like Aunt Sonya did one day.  When he mimics the action he says "Nonna" (his word for Sonya) and shortly after he says "Dave".

Compound words: Snowmen

Aunt Sonya made us snowmen as holiday decorations.  Noah was able to say the word "snowmen" right away and has retained it!

The Letter I gets its own blog...check back later to find out what that is all about! 

Haircut, Please, Old MacDonald, and Running

Yesterday I gave Noah his first official haircut. Actually it took me the day before yesterday and yesterday to achieve the final cut. He could only tolerate the cutting for so long so I had to do it in stages. His bangs were getting in his eyes and people in the public were calling him a girl. So it is cut but I just had to keep some of those lovely baby curls in the back.

While waiting for me to cook he began singing the tune "Old MacDonald". He did not say the words but he sang the correct notes!

Today while eating dinner he said "peese" (please) when he wanted more food. He said "toe" for the sweet potato and he fed himself with a spoon.

Yesterday we were in Walmart and he began running down the open walkway. At first I thought he was after something, but he wasn't. He was just happy running in the open space. He was running and laughing. It was adorable!