Todd's Diary has moved!

I've decided to discontinue blogging Todd's stories on Tripod and move his baby diary over to Blogger. You can find the new diary at:

http://toddsdiary.blogspot.com

So be sure to update your bookmarks!

I am hoping that when I find some time in the near future (probably won't happen until this summer, the way my schedule's been going), I will transfer over the old entries from this diary onto the blogspot one, that may take some time as it's over 100 entries!

No updated entries yet, I've got a few stories brewing but haven't had time to post. Be sure to check out the new URL soon for updates! :-) 

Speak up!

Yesterday Oma had an appointment to go through some medical and administrative paperwork, and as she sat in front of the guy's desk sorting through everything with him, Todd wouldn't sit still. He kept climbing up on the seat next to Oma, jumping in her arms and smothering her with kisses.

This made the guy laugh, as he observed: "He sure loves you very much!"

Then he asked how old Todd was, and when my mom responded with "two and a half", the man went wide-eyed with surprise, commenting on how he thought Todd was 4 years old. Then mom pointed out his Daddy's height, and the guy just shook his head in amazement at the idea that such freakish giants actually exist in this world :-P

When he tried talking to Todd, Todd turned into his immediate shy self. He asked "what's your name?"

Todd whispered, "Todd".

Oma prompted him to speak "louder", whereupon Todd lifted his head and yelled out "Todd!!"

The guy laughed and said "I hear you, I hear you!"

Well, I guess Todd was at least following directions, if a bit too literally :-D 

Life Imitates Art

Sunday night, after we got back from Universal Studios, Oma and Opa asked what he had seen/done that day.

It figures that the one thing that stood out in Toddy's mind the most was watching Shrek 4-D, where everytime the donkey on the screen sneezed at us, we'd get sprayed with water (ewwww!)

So he explained the sneezing scene, and then decided that words weren't enough to describe what happened, so he re-enacted it: by faking an "Achoo!" and splattering Oma and Opa with spit! Now THAT'S what I call "ewwww"!  

Todd meets Lisa

Lisa finally got to meet her little man in person on Saturday when Todd and I went to LAX to pick her up. At first he hung back shyly and remained quiet, as he usually does when he first meets new people.

By the time we got to the Northridge mall for dinner, however, he'd started to warm up a bit, and would whisper his answers to her. During dinner, I asked him if she looked familiar, if he recognized her from before (he never had trouble recognizing Lisa's pic on my computer and declaring "Lisa!" whenever he saw it). It had been a while since he'd seen her pic, but you could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he strained to think about where he'd seen her before!

When we'd finished eating and started to make our way to the indoor playground, Todd held me hand, and then stretched his free hand out to grab Lisa's hand! 

After we exited the mall and made our way to the car to return to my parents' house, Lisa stopped for a smoke break outside the car. As soon as she started huffing and puffing, Todd stared up at her, wide-eyed and his mouth forming a perfect little "O" in wonder and astonishment at what she was doing. What a way to lay the guilt-trip on her, hehe!

The next day, Sunday morning, he came out of his room after finishing his morning bottle of milk, and upon seeing me in the hallway, his first words to me were "Where's Lisa?"

When Allan and I picked Lisa up to take her to Universal Studios, she sat in the back seat next to Todd, who promptly turned the other away so that his back was to her. Cold shoulder?

But throughout the day he again started warming up to her and talked with her, even got braver towards the end of the day so that he was speaking louder and not just whispering.  

At the end of the day, after dropping of Allan and Lisa to Allan's car so he could drive her back, Todd willingly gave her a hug and kiss goodbye :-)

As I drove off, he asked me where Daddy was. I said "He's going home", not bothering to explain the part about dropping Lisa off before heading back to SB. Then Todd asked "Where's Lisa?", paused, and then, because he'd seen Lisa leaving with Daddy, announced: "Lisa going to Santa Barbara!"

Uh... probably not, son, even though it WOULD be nice to have had time to take her to see Paradise in Southern California :-D  

Flying... with wings

Yesterday I was reading through one of Todd's picture books-- the one with all sorts of modes of transportation-- various trucks, planes, boats, etc...

At the end was a little quiz-type section, where answers were covered by flaps with a question and picture on it.

For example: the flap would say "What goes on water?" with a picture of a fish. Open the flap to get the answer: "a boat".

Then we got to the flap that said "What flies in the air?" with a picture of a bird on it.

Todd declared: "a bird!" 

Mommy: "That's right, a bird. But if you want to fly, what do you use?"

Todd (flapping his arms): "Wings!"

Hmmm... makes sense-- it IS wings, after all, that enable birds to fly, airplanes have wings... so if Toddy had wings it stands to reason that he'd be able to fly in the sky too, right? 

Little policeman

When Oma took Todd to the mall yesterday, his imagination went into overdrive again and he proclaimed "I'm a policeman!"

To which Oma replied: "But you're so little!"

That's okay, though, because "I'm a little policeman!"

So Oma changed tactics and pointed out that "You're scared of people, though. How are you going to catch anyone?"

Apparently little policemen don't need to catch all crooks, because Todd declared: "I can catch Opa! I can catch Oma!"

:-D

Bless You!

Todd was playing with Daddy, and wound up sneezing right in Daddy's face.

To which Daddy promptly reacted with a vehement "EWWWW!!!"

Todd was quick to reprimand Daddy: "You don't say 'ewwww', you say 'bless you!'"

After a good giggle, Todd sealed the deal by sneezing yet again... right in Daddy's face :-D 

Shopping... without Daddy!

It was just another Friday morning, driving Todd with me to work so Daddy could pick him up and take him to SB.

Todd asked me what I was doing and I said "We're going to go see Daddy!"

This made him pause and respond with "No!"

Surprised, I asked again "You wanna see Daddy?"

This time he didn't hesitate: "No!"

I tried again: "Don't you wanna go shopping with Daddy?" (knowing how much my son loves to go out shopping)

His reply? "Nnn... YES!"

So I pointed out, "But you'll have to go shopping with Daddy!"

His take on it? "No, not Daddy! Shopping!" 

Me, Myself and I

Yesterday as I was trying to dress Todd for bed, he was playing peekaboo with the blanket he was lying on. He put it over his face and I said "Where's Toddy?"

His echo? "Where's me?"

Later that night, we watched some old Todd movies that Opa had uploaded to the computer but hadn't yet gotten around to putting together on DVD. Most of them were when he was about 9 months old. It was cute to see Todd watching his younger self on the screen, and piping up with commentary about what he was seeing!

"Pao pao is eating/screaming/crawling/naked!"

Even cuter was when we watched clips of baby Toddy trying to talk, and babbling away in baby talk. I said "Look-- you're talking!"

Puzzled, because the baby in the movie wasn't really speaking real words, Todd declared "No!" 

And he was quick to express his boredom when the movie clips got too long or when I opened up a clip that was similar to one he had already seen, because he'd pipe up with "What else?"

Yucky!

I came across some video captures that my dad had put on the computer but hadn't gotten around to compiling into a DVD. This clip in particular cracked me up like you wouldn't believe.

Toddy looks to be about a year old in this video, and someone is feeding him something that, well, he doesn't seem to like too much. Maybe something sour? 

Anyway-- his reaction and facial expressions are priceless, so, enjoy!

Click here

 

The stinky pianist

Mommy had to chase Todd around the house before she could catch him and scoop him up and toss him into the tub for a bath. Nothing noteworthy there, as that's what he usually does-- resist bathing. Only this time, instead of offering his usual "I don't want to take a bath!" insistence, he added a bit of logical reasoning as to why he shouldn't take a bath:

"I'm not stinky!"

Eventually, though, reason (and a bigger and stronger (well, barely!)) Mommy won and a nice clean toddler emerged from the bathroom. 

Afterward, we enjoyed sitting at the piano and plunking out tunes, Todd had fun banging the keys as if he were a pro, and proudly announced: "I can do it!" 

Exorcist exercise
Todd spied something on the back of Daddy's shirt today, and inquired as to what it was. Of course, Daddy, lacking eyes on the back of his head, explained to Todd that he didn't know because he couldn't see it.

Guns 'n' Swords
Toddy likes playing with witha  piece of vacuum pipe, enjoys doing all kinds of things with it, such as attaching rope to the end of it and using it as a fishing pole, or even rubbing it across the carpet, "vacuuming" it. 

Fun at the Mall

While Daddy spent the day at Grandpa's watching the Super Bowl, Mommy took Todd out to the mall in Valencia.

We left after lunch, where Todd eagerly wolfed down his lasagna and chicken soup in preparation for going out. It was a gorgeous day, so I packed the stroller in the car so we could wander around outside.

Upon arriving at the mall, we made a beeline for the little playground at the other end of where we parked (once we were able to find an elevator to take us downstairs, that is!). Todd was his usual shy self and hung back whenever other kids ran near him, and of course, always grabbed my hand to drag me to whatever part of the playground he was interested in investigating.

The weather was so beautiful (sunny and warm with temps in the lower 80s) that we walked outside for a little while-- along the small streets adjacent to the mall-- tree-lined, clean, and beautiful, they looked like something straight out of a picture book featuring Main Street in your typical Small Town, USA. 

Afterward, we made our way back to the mall and spied a huge merry-go-round, which Todd immediately started clamoring to go on. The nice thing about this carousel was that it was large enough to accommodate two levels. I asked Todd if he wanted to ride at ground level or ride "up there", pointing to the second level. Without hesitation, he declared "Up there!".

A $2 token and a few minutes in line later, Todd was enjoying riding up and down on his elephant while I stood next to him holding him and sharing in his delight.

Afterward, we visited a place called "The Toy Dep't", which featured all sorts of classic games and toys from not only my childhood, but my parents' generation's childhood as well. I ended up buying a couple of "Little Golden Book"s, which I remember fondly from my own childhood. I got "Mother Goose" rhymes and my favorite: "The Monster at the end of the book", featuring my favorite Sesame Street character: Grover!

We stopped for some ice cream at Orange Julius/DQ before getting ready to head home. As we sat on the bench sharing a chocolate ice cream bar, another woman and her daughter (a year or two older than Todd) sat next to us while they waited for the rest of their family to finish shopping. The little girl sat right next to Todd, turned to him, and said 'Hi!"

I nudged Todd to say "Hi" back, and he complied!

Then the little girl piped up with "My name is Lydia"

I whispered in Todd's ear, and he repeated himself out loud in response to the little girl: "My name is Todd!"

So, despite his shyness around the other rambunctious kids on the playground, he was brave enough to talk with a new kid in Mom's presence... and with a bit of prompting :-) 

All in all, it was a fun, if exhausting day at the mall. After some settling down back at home, we enjoyed some much-needed naps together to recharge ourselves for the evening. 

Magnifying Glass

Todd had gotten a hold of a large magnifying glass and was using it as a hammer, banging it on things. To keep him from breaking it, Oma took it away and placed it high atop a shelf where he wouldn't be able to reach it.

Todd then opened a drawer, pulled out another magnifying glass (one that Oma sometimes uses to help her read small print), and handed it to Oma.

His reason? "You can use this one." He then pointed to the top of the shelf where the first magnifying glass sat, and declared, "I want that one!"
Pretty logical when you think about it-- Oma has her own, so it stands to reason that Todd should get one of his own, too, right? Tee hee.

Imitating grownups

Todd has really taken to mimicking the grownups and talking in the same tones and making the same gestures we do, when we talk to him.

Case in point: I always praise him with "that's right!" when he makes a correct observation. Well, now he's taken to beating me to the punch by appending those observations with "that's right!" by himself. 

Or when Oma admonishes him not to do things he isn't allowed to do, she sternly says "do you hear me?" at the end. The other day, Todd was admonishing Oma on something, and said, sternly "Do you hear me?" at the end of his command!

Finally, there's the ages-old finger-wagging: Todd was saying something along the lines of "don't do that!" while wagging his index finger back and forth in emphasis.

My little boy is growing up! :') 

Tricky boy

Last night, after arriving home from SB, Todd found his way to Opa's bed and crawled in next to him, pulling the blanket snugly up to his chest. I came into the room, having searched the whole house for the little boy so I could get him ready for bed.

When I approached Opa's bed, Todd, knowing I was coming to pull him out of the bed, burrowed even deeper under the covers and offered this reason for staying put:

"No! It's cold!"

To which I replied: "You're cold? Okay, come on, let's put a sweater on you"

Todd thought about this for a few seconds, and you could practically see the wheels turning in his head as his eyes became thoughtful. Finally, they lit up as he declared:

"It's hot!"

Tricky little boy! :-P

Name confusion

Daddy was teaching Todd the first names of the members of his family. Todd was already familiar with our first names, so when Mommy came home from work tonight, he tested Todd to show her what he learned.

First, a refresher:

Daddy: What's Mommy's name?
Todd: Helly!
Daddy: What's Daddy's name?
Todd: Allan!

And then, the new stuff:

Daddy: What's Grandpa's name?
Todd: Earl!
Daddy: What's Grandma's name?
Todd: (after some prompting) Diane!
Daddy: What's Uncle Ron's name?
Todd: (without hesitation) Aunt Debbie!

And he did the last bit not once, but twice. Guess we'll have to tell Uncle Ron that not only has he now assumed his wife's name, but it's prefaced with "Aunt" :-D 

In my tummy!

While driving to work with Toddy in the back seat this morning, I glanced back to see that the cracker he was eating, was still mostly intact-- just a few nibbles here and there. I thought he wasn't interested in the cracker much. Imagine my surprised when I turned around again several minutes later to find Todd's hands empty (well, no sign of the cracker, anyway-- he had a balloon in his hands). 

Thinking he had dropped the cracker on the seat somewhere, I asked, "Where's the cracker?"

Todd's reply? "In my tummy!"

"Oh, you finished it?"

"Yes!" 

Boat baths and whale tales

Todd was having fun playing with an empty laundry basket. Next thing I knew, he had climbed in, dragging Allen the stuffed alligator with him. I asked if he was in a boat. "Yes". I asked if he was taking a bath. "Yes". So, apparently my little boy enjoys bathing in a boat:

 

While he was "splashing" around in his boat tub, he got hold of a stuffed whale (which he thinks is a "fish"). He examined the fish's tail and then declared that this was where "fish poopies" come out.

Mommy couldn't say much to that-- it is true, after all! Besides, she was laughing too hard to say anything coherent, anyway :-D