And now for some Noah bits

- Upon opening the car door on a sunny day I often exclaim “Wooo! Hot car!” I guess I do it frequently because not only does Noah now call our wagon the “hot car” he also uses the exclamation any time you exclaim “Wooo.” Which I guess I use frequently. You didn’t know I was a Wooo-er, did you?

- On a daily basis we play the sock game – wherein Noah rifles through his sock drawers to look for “matches.” He’s getting better at actually picking out matching socks, and much better at his colors. Once he has a match we have to put them on one of the stuff animals. I think “New-shee” (Snoopy) looks rather stunning in navy sneaker socks. The bad part of all this is now Noah is never satisfied with the pair of socks that I picked out for his outfit. And though he’s getting better at picking out two blue socks, he’s not so great at coordinating his socks with his outfit. Sigh.

- I have a picnic basket where I keep a stack of greeting cards. Noah has always loved to pull out the cards and the envelopes and run them around the house. Recently he grasped the idea that the cards are to give to someone on their birthday and he now refers to them, and any mail for that matter, as “Happy.” It’s super cute when he hands you a bill with a big smile and a “Happy, happy, Mama.”

- When Noah wants to answer your question in the affirmative he says “Esss.” In fact most often he says it twice – the first time a bit questioningly the second with conviction. “Noah, do you see the boat?” “Esssss? Esssss!” He also loves to play the reverse psychology game wherein I say “No,” he says “Essss,” I say “Yes,” and with a devilish grin he says “No.”

- Noah has always liked to look at books and has a few favorites. I’m certain that many of his favorites have become so because we like them and read them more emphatically. Recently Noah has started to quote some of his books to the point of developing his own little catch phrases. My favorites are “No more monkeys” from “Five Little Monkeys” and an emphatic and exasperated “Let me drive the bus!” from “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.”

- When Noah hears a child crying or sees a forlorn character in his books he’ll point and say “sad.” When you ask him why they’re sad he answers “Bappa” – which is Noah-speak for Boppy, and means the sad soul just wants to be nursed. It’s like a junkie pointing to forlorn folk and suggesting “heroin.” YES Noah’s still nursing about three times a day and shows no interest in letting up. I’d like it to come to a resolution naturally, and on his own time, but I really do hope we can be done breastfeeding by his second birthday. We shall see.

- Our house is a “doot doot” house. For those of you not in the know, “doot doot” is music. I guess not only is music hard to pronounce but I must often follow the word music by singing a little song (“doot doot dee dee doo”). Recent kid music additions are the Laurie Berkner DVD, Philadelphia Chickens and the Backyardigans soundtrack (though he doesn't watch the show.) I have to admit that I both enjoy Laurie Berkner AND have to kill her. The songs are just too catchy. They are ALWAYS in my head. Of course they’re also easy to learn which is why Noah already knows some words to his favorites. He often asks me to sing “Moon, Moon, Moon” and “The Goldfish.” Of course he also digs whatever music has Mama jamming. Which brings me to an issue I have – explicit lyrics. Mark bought me the new The Streets CD because I SO enjoyed the last one, but I’m feeling a bit sheepish about playing it due to the presence of some unsuitable toddler language. You think Noah will pick up on the F bomb in the middle of a song, even when it’s pronounced in a thick Brit accent? I mean… it sounds so charming when you say it like THAT.