Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

After a couple of mishaps, we've made a rule that there is to be only water-containing sippy cups in the living room. These things get left behind, kicked under the couch, dropped in the toy box. . . . It's quite gross when Jonathan grabs one up and starts drinking, but at least now he won't be drinking mold. Still, as an additional safety measure, Chris decided to teach him to differentiate the good sippy cups from the bad. We started leaving the dinnertime sippy on the coffee table overnight. Jonathan runs downstairs in the morning and used to go right to the sippy. But Chris was patient with him, saying "No, that's old. Yucky! Give it here and I'll get you some fresh water."

Jonathan now has the concept of "old water" down very well. Too well, in fact. It was great when he would find a discarded sippy and bring it to us, saying "old water byebye!" But now, every time he puts the cup down for fifteen seconds, it becomes "old water" and he wants fresh. There can still be condensation forming on the sides of the fresh-from-the-fridge cup of water, but if it's left his hand, it's old and he wants nothing to do with it. How can a kid whose idea of a great time is to drink from puddles in the driveway be so picky about his sippy cup?

In other water related news, Jonathan was fascinated to watch me put water in the vase of the lovely pink and white roses Chris gave me for my birthday. He commented on the whole process, noting that I used the pink cup, and that the water was all gone. He even offered some of his juice to the flowers! A day or two later, the water level was once again low. We were eating dinner together at the table when he pointed to the vase and asked me "Flowers eat water?"

Some recent observations from Jonathan

Jonathan's expressive language is growing in leaps and bounds. He's able to communicate novel ideas. It's just so much fun to start to see how that little mind is working.

1) We all know what "gapes" are, right? They're part of Jonathan's favorite food group, they come in red, purple and green varieties, and Mommy has to cut each and every blessed one in half before Jonathan can eat them. Anyway, we shared a bowl of gapes for dessert tonight. I prefer to cut them crossways. Jonathan noticed that some of the gapes had smooth surfaces, while others were dimpled. He took a close look at the dimple, then handed his specimen to me to show me the "gape's belly button."

2) We are having some fun with the wonderful playsilks sent by the Abdelaty family. Since Jonathan insists on "two blankies" before going to sleep, the playsilks have necessarily become blankies for a whole range of toys. Tonight, we tucked in the bunny, his fire truck, the Hot Wheels van, the big purple ball, and the penguin. When we first started playing with these, I had spead out the orange silk on the floor. Jonathan enjoyed standing on it in his bare feet. So tonight, after we used up the other five silks as blankies, he came to me with the orange silk. He fussed until I remembered, and was only happy once it was back on the floor. Then he pointed out where one corner was rucked up, so I could fix it. Then he stood on it again.

3) Jonathan gets three bedtime books, no more and no less. "Petsels," or "Pretzel," is back in rotation again after a brief hiatus. Jonathan is currently fascinated by the page where the dog Greta gets stuck in a hole. He points to it again and again saying "Sca(r)ed. Scaed. Crying." Last night after our books he was struck by the beam of light coming through a crack in the door. He pointed to it, said "scaed" and turned to grab me around the neck. He didn't let go for ten minutes, and it wasn't until I got up and turned out the hall light that he would consent to go in his crib. Tonight, I turned off the hall light before bedtime, hoping to eliminate that fear. He looked up at me and told me again he was scared. I asked him "What are you scared of? There's no light out there." He looked around vaguely and said, tentatively, "Wall?"

4) After a trial at out-of-highchair dining, we are back to buckling him in for meals. Last night we had one of his favorites, Indian chicken curry with rice and peas. He worked pretty hard with a spoon but in the end it was easier to push the food into the spoon using his hands. Once he was done he ran his curry-laden hands through his hair, then looked at us hopefully and said "Bath!"

It was almost worth it

The less said about the trip to San Diego, the better. Jonathan was pretty happy to see me in the morning after I got back and ushered Daddy out of the room: "Daddy go. Bye-bye Daddy!" I spent the day hiding out from work and getting some things done around the house. Come evening, it was time to put Jonathan to bed. He clearly relished having his bedtime routine done "just so." We finished our books, turned off the light, and had a little snuggle. He put his head on my shoulder and said with a sigh, "Mommy home."

Party Moses!

We are recovering from our fun-filled weekend. Grandma and Grandpa arrived from Brussels on Friday night. We had pad thai waiting for them - actually, we couldn't wait and had just started in on the noodles when the doorbell rang. Jonathan turned around in his highchair and waved through a mouthful, but the hugs had to wait until after dinner. We spent an hour or two watching Jonathan, and then Grandma and Grandpa crashed with jet lag and headed to their hotel.

The next day was birthday party day! Our house was a bustle of activity starting at about nine AM. Jonathan spent all morning outside with his Grandpa, pushing around the "big truck!" and running through the leaves. Mom and I chopped fruits and veggies and marinated chicken wings, while Chris rearranged furniture. Somehow we all managed an hour-long nap after lunch, but there was too much excitement for Jonathan to stay asleep too long. Too quickly, he was up in his crib, asking for "outside!" again with Grandpa. He took a little detour into a mud puddle, and Chris gave gim a quick bath right before all the guests arrived.

All four grandparents were there, and Jonathan had a good time figuring that one out. He'd point to each one in turn - "Grandma. Grandma! Two grandmas!" I think using the Korean terms for Chris's parents will help in the long run, and he started to get those down by the end of the evening. We also managed to have three other toddlers present, with their parents, and had not a single meltdown! There was a kids' table set up in the kitchen and I was inordinately happy that I have finally graduated to the adults' side.

Jonathan loved opening the presents and showed he was a fast learner - when he saw the first wrapped box he shouted "Grandma!" We had to explain that presents come from other people too. He and Sam especially liked dancing to the tune from the Fisher Price bulldozer, and getting a round of applause at the end. Dave and Michelle's present contained a sprinkling of lollipops as decoration, and it was incredible how much quieter it was once all four kids had "plops" firmly planted.

We all came in to the dining room to sing "Happy Birthday" while I held Jonathan in the middle of the crowd. Just like last year, he soon realized he had all eyes on him and a song being sung - two of his favorite things in the world. As soon as the cheers died down he asked for "More? More!" But he accepted some bites of ice cream cake as an acceptable substitute.

After a sound sleep, we drove over to Grandma and Grandpa's hotel the next morning and stuffed Jonathan with a giant breakfast from their buffet. He still does the "Oooohh!" when he sees a spread of food. We bid the grandparents goodbye and drove up to Baltimore for a fraternity gathering. Jonathan slept for a good portion of the trip, sedated from all the waffles, eggs and sausage.

We got there and were amazed to see how much procreation has taken place in a ten year period among our group of friends. There were kids and toys everywhere. Jonathan shrugged out of his coat and found the room with lots and lots of toy cars. Even though he was one of the younger ones, he held his own, waiting until the red pushcar was empty (for a nanosecond) before pushing his way in. We coaxed him to take a bite or two of pasta but he was more interested in playing every second he could.

Finally, after a long afternoon, it was time to come home. Jonathan gave his usual goodbye hugs and kisses to all our friends and we strapped him into his carseat. Mr. Spicy was asleep before we hit I-95. When we made it home, he kept his head snuggled into us as we carried him upstairs to his crib, and curled up on his tummy with arms and legs tucked in. We did convince him to get into some pajamas, and he remembered to ask for his two blankies, but he didn't want any dinner. Not even a cookie could tempt our little "Cookie Moses."

"Two six!" A Jonathan-to-English translation.

Just in case you want to understand Jonathan this week. . .

"Two six!" means "I'd like to go upstairs and go to sleep." (We count the stairs on our way up; Jonathan knows two of the numbers.)

"Car blankie? Truck blankie?" means "Mom, let's go walk around the neighborhood, where we might possibly see the car covers that tickle my fancy so."

"Elmo dance!" means "I want to listen to 'Sesame Street Sings!' for the ninth time today."

"Choo choo?" means "Please show me my pictures on smugmug again."

"Suzu!" means "Look, Mom, an Isuzu SUV!"

"Oh jeez" means "Drat, I've dropped my Elmo head."

"Mommy juice. Daddy juice. Jon-jon juice!" means "We all seem to be enjoying some pomengranate juice with our dinner tonight."

"Where'd Mommy go?" is pretty self explanatory. We're just proud of that one.

Your mouth says "no" but your eyes say "yes"

Too many choices! These days, Jonathan is really struggling to gain some independence. He's using his now extensive vocabulary (I gave up counting at 125 words) to try to put Mommy and Daddy in their rightful place. Whatever we offer, whether it's lunch, or a blankie, or a toy, is met with "No!"

The problem is, we're actually rather nice parents. We know what Jonathan likes and what he needs and so he winds up rejecting things we know he really wants. He knows it, too. He loves to have "two blankies" for his nap and at bedtime. But telling me "no!" is also important. So nowadays, as soon as I lay him in his crib, he's up on his feet. He shouts "No blankie! No blankie! Bye-bye, Mommy!" I have tried to drape a blankie over his shoulders, but he throws it off. I ask him "Are you sure? You like blankies." and he tells me again "No!"

I rarely get out of the room before he's wailing "Blankie! Pwees!" I turn around and he drops to the mattress, hands at his side, happy to be covered up.

This is not my favorite stage, to be sure. Chris and I keep reminding ourselves what he's really doing, which is growing up. We've decided to let him change his mind once. After that, whatever decision he makes, he's stuck with. Jonathan has figured out our limits. Once he gets that all-important "No!" out, he's much more reasonable.

The Fifth Beatle

As all our dear readers know, Jonathan's second birthday was yesterday. (!!!) So we made our second trip to the UVA Lawn for trick-or-treating. Chris' idea of hiding the Elmo costume for the last several weeks worked very well. Jonathan was so excited to see it that he didn't fuss at all while I was putting it on. And instead of a plastic pumpkin to carry the candy, our nanny bought him a big plastic Elmo head. So he looked like a Sesame Street version of The Headless Horseman, with his head slung over his arm.

We parked at the hospital parking lot and took a walk over to the Lawn. There were families streaming in from all directions. I had thought for sure that Elmo would be one of the most popular costumes, since they certainly had plenty of them in stock last month at the local Target. But we didn't see a single one - it was all pirates and princesses. We made it up the hill and past the Rotunda, ready to get some candy.

It turns out that taking your kid in an Elmo costume to a gathering of five hundred children and their parents is like accompanying Paul McCartney though downtown London. Every step we took, someone shouted out "Elmo! There's Elmo!" (A couple of grandparents also shouted "Cookie Monster!") Parents were pointing out Jonathan to their toddlers, college students were enticing him over to get candy, and kids were coming up to say hello. Jonathan was quickly in a sweaty red fuzzy daze.

He was pretty happy to go get candy when there wasn't too much of a crowd. He would reach out his hand to take what was offered, examine it closely, and carefully place it in his plastic head. Then, with a little prompting, he'd wave "bye-bye" and move on. After fifteen doors or so, we were getting right into the thick of the crowd, and he'd had enough. He darted through a gap in the wall and headed to the grassy portion of the Lawn, which was much less busy.

He was really enthralled watching one student juggle, and I had to forcibly restrain him from walking right into the middle of the flying clubs to offer the performer some candy. He also had a great time picking up the dropped balls and handing them back. We saw some neat costumes, including a skunk and a Green Bay Cheesehead. Jonathan was perking up a little and I decided to try a few more doors.

As soon as we got back in the stream, the cries of "Elmo!" started again. Jonathan got one Tootsie Pop and then darted between two buildings, making for a deserted driveway. I chased after him, leaving behind the wails of toddlers who wanted to see Elmo. Other families were walking up towards the candy, and Jonathan got high-fives and pictures taken as he fled. He was pretty happy to be running free and fuzzy, but I was concerned because he was headed away from our car. So I chased after him, trying to convince him to turn around. He made a sharp right and ran behind two walled gardens, with me in hot pursuit. I was feeling as though this was a scene from "Hard Day's Night."

I had to carry him under the Rotunda and down the hill towards our car. He rode on my shoulders for a while, but dropped his Elmo head, spilling his candy and scraping off a portion of the orange nose. We took a shortcut through the corridors of the West Hospital on our way back to the parking lot. Jonathan flat-out refused to walk any more, so I offered him a lollipop. One pink cotton-candy "plop" later and he was sticky and happy to keep moving.

Other hospital parents were taking the same shortcut, but the corridors were long and we were often alone. Then we heard "Elmo! I LOVE Elmo!" echoing down the hallway. A tiny little girl, maybe 2 1/2 years old and dressed as a princess, came barrelling our way, shouting "Elmo! Elmo!" She sprinted to Jonathan, who stood rooted to the ground, lollipop tucked in his mouth. She threw her arms around him, stroked his orange nose, and petted his red fur. The girl's mother said "It's like something out of Love Story!" and we were all weak from laughing. Finally we had to go our separate ways.

It took two more "plops" (and one meltdown when he dropped the yellow one) before we got to the car. I stripped off his costume and he rode home happily in his undershirt and socks. We had a birthday bath to wash off the candy, then spent the rest of the evening eating cheese cubes and Chex while watching the Sesame Street Old School DVD that Auntie Liz and Uncle Jim sent. Understandably, we'd had enough Elmo.