The Small Family   

Happy Thanksgiving Week to everyone! This week’s blog title was inspired by Theo’s ardent love of everyone’s favorite vegetable--broccoli! Actually, Chris and I both really like broccoli, so I suppose it’s not a huge surprise that Theo likes it. What is surprising is the degree to which he likes it. For lunch and dinner, we normally make Theo a pretty well-balanced meal: a protein (turkey loaf or chicken or beans), a starch (usually sweet potatoes, steel-cut oatmeal, or quinoa), some fruit (apples, bananas, pineapple, etc…usually mixed with the oatmeal or quinoa), soy yogurt (a fruit flavor of some sort), and a veggie. Lately, because a lot of veggies aren’t really in season, broccoli has been on the menu quite a bit…much to Theo’s delight! He will have little bowls of all these items in front of him, and you would think he’d howl for the fruit or the sweet yogurt, but no--he will thrash and howl until we feed him the broccoli! And then he happily eats all the broccoli and protests loudly when it is gone. That’s right--the kid opts for broccoli over something sweet. He is clearly not my child. ;-)

Anyway, we are delighted that he loves broccoli so much, since it’s quite nutritious, but it’s just really funny to see how truly passionate he feels about broccoli, of all things!

Speaking of food, I had an amusing time at Nugget (our local “nice” market, and probably Chris’s favorite place on the planet) with Theo this week. Usually Chris does the Nugget shopping, since he loves Nugget about as much as Theo loves broccoli, and I don’t personally care much for grocery shopping. But one night this week, Chris wanted to install a new cabinet in the upstairs bathroom. Theo always wants to “help” with such chores, which can be a bit of a challenge, so I volunteered to take Theo to Nugget to pick up some parmesan cheese we needed for dinner. It’s been awhile since I had Theo in a grocery store, and I was really amused by how vocal he was! Nugget has a lot of fresh produce outside the store, in a little foyer area, and Theo immediately started chattering up a storm at it, shouting “Ap-ple!” (at the pineapples…but close!) and “Ah-that, Ah-that, Ah-that!” (at the bananas--which for some reason he always refers to as “ah-that!”). He also caught sight of the broccoli and proclaimed “Ewwww!” (This is actually a term of endearment from him. He has a Sandra Boynton book that talks about “Breakfast time is here for you--buttered toast and broccoli stew,” and the hippo says, “Ewwww!” So Theo calls that book “Ewww,” and he refers to broccoli as “Ewwww,” also, even though he loves it.)

So then we continued through the store, with Theo getting very animated in the yogurt aisle and anywhere else he spotted a food he likes. I had to laugh at one point. I have a real bias against Lunchables--those packaged “meals” for kids that have various items like turkey, crackers, cheese, a snack, a drink, etc. in them. I mean no offense to anyone who likes these and gives them to their kid--I just personally think they look really icky, so Chris and I joke about how “poor Theo” will probably never experience a Lunchable. Anyway, we’ve never talked about this in front of him, as it’s never come up. He doesn’t ask for Lunchables, nor does he even know what they are. But as we were walking down an aisle in Nugget, we suddenly passed the Lunchables, and Theo immediately blew raspberries: “Phhhbbbbbllllllllttttt!” I started laughing, since that pretty much sums up my personal feelings about Lunchables!

Anyway, when we got to the checkstand, Theo chattered happily to the checker about his yogurts, which the checker was ringing up. The checker was a young guy--pleasant, as everyone there generally is, but clearly not schooled in toddler-speak. So he had NO idea what Theo was saying, but Theo was very happy to tell him all about the yogurt!

And while I'm talking about Theo's chattering at Nugget, I should mention that I posted a new video on the blog! Just click on the link to the Videos page on the right, and look for the video titled "Our Little Chatterbox." It's my first attempt at using iMovie, so it's a bit crudely done, but it's a start. (The first book I ever edited was iMovie Fast & Easy, but the program has changed significantly in the ensuing 10 years, I'm afraid!) I wanted to get some of Theo's constant chatter on tape because it's so darn cute, so I decided to make a short movie of him chattering away about things and answering some simple questions. If you manage to last through the whole few minutes of the video, you'll see a short clip of him at the zoo this weekend at the very end. He was VERY excited upon catching sight of some monkeys!

In other news of fun developments, I noticed that Theo has finally reached the age where he connects past experiences to the present. He was due for his H1N1 vaccine booster this week, so I took him to Kaiser on Thursday afternoon to get it.  Now, he has never minded the doctor’s office, nor has he ever shown any realization of “this is someplace where I get shots.” He always goes in happy as a clam, shrieks for 10 seconds when stuck with a needle, and then leaves happy as a clam. Not this week! The minute we got to check-in, he started to whimper a bit. Then he forgot about it while he played in the waiting room, but as soon as we were called into the vaccine room, he started shrieking--and didn’t stop until we left, five minutes later. He was NOT happy to be there, and he thrashed and squalled so much while the nurse gave him a shot that she finally stepped back, looked at me, and said, “Oh my goodness, he’s strong!” Kind of surprising, given that he’s only in the 31st percentile for weight. You wouldn’t expect such a lean little guy to be so strong, but he really is. Must be all that broccoli… ;-)

Speaking of connecting past experiences, Theo also had a float lesson refresher with Miss Deborah this week. She heated up her spa to do refresher lessons with a couple of students who hadn’t graduated by the end of the season, and Theo was one of them. He was delighted to see Miss Deborah and chatted up a storm to her…until she stepped in the spa. Then he let us know that he did NOT wish to go in! Alas, mean mama made him go in anyway, and I was delighted to see that he has retained virtually everything he learned over the summer. I was afraid we’d be starting from scratch when we start up again in the spring, but in fact Theo can still float on his own for up to about 10 or 15 seconds, and he still knows to hold his breath when he gets water in his face. And, he is still able to kick himself over from his tummy to his back with a little assistance from Miss Deborah. It was as if we hadn’t missed a day of lessons, rather than having been off them for 2 1/2 months. I was really pleased! That was money well spent last summer--looks like we will NOT be starting at Square One in the spring. Yahoo!

In non-Theo news, I’m excited to report that I got into the Photojournalism class I was eyeing for spring. So be prepared to see my practice shots up on the blog from January through May! I’m really excited about this class--I like photojournalistic photography style (as opposed to posed portraits), so I think I will really have a lot of fun with this class. My friend Kim is taking it as well, so that will make it extra fun!

I also sent a record four books to the printer this week. I don’t think I’ve ever done more than two in a week before, so I am pleased that I still have a semi-functioning brain. Many thanks to Chris for taking some extra shifts with Theo so I could get all this done…and for writing last week’s blog to save me some time!

Because it was such a hectic week, we really looked forward to doing something fun and relaxing on Saturday…and indeed we did. We drove down to Stockton to visit a small zoo there--the Micke Grove zoo. It’s very small, but they have surprisingly neat animals for such a tiny, inexpensive place. (It was $4 total for all three of us to get in!) They have tamarins (little primates--one of my favorites!), baboons, spider monkeys, a Chinese alligator (who unfortunately was nowhere to be seen), lemurs, and some really unusual bird species. Oh, and a couple bald eagles that were amazingly close to the fence in their enclosure--I’ve never seen one so close before! Theo had a ball--he ran around like a crazy man, squealing in delight at everything. The zoo was empty except for us and one other man with a toddler, so Theo had the run of the place. Unfortunately, it was very cold, so we only stayed about 45 minutes. But that unfortunate circumstance turned into a fortunate one when I checked my trusty iPhone for “things to do in Stockton with kids” and discovered a children’s museum just a few miles down the road. We headed over there, and what a find! It was like a smaller-scale version of that wonderful Please Touch museum in Philadelphia--several large rooms set up with all kinds of interactive exhibits for children to play with and touch. One room had all kinds of vehicles they could climb in--a real police car, a real motorcycle, a real fire truck, part of a real bus… Another area was set up just for kids under four years old, and Theo spent much time in there, climbing on the John Deere tractor and “driving it” and playing in the two-story house that had a little kitchen/dining room set up for play. Another area was a supermarket for kids to shop and run the cash register, and Theo was a big fan of that, too--although as at the Please Touch museum, he got very angry every time he crashed the shopping cart, so then much foot-stomping ensued. (Little perfectionist!)

The thing that really made Chris and I laugh was watching Theo play in that little house with the kitchen/dining room. We sat outside the house and watched him. For awhile he played with the food and pots and pans with other kids, and then when all the other kids moved on to other things, Theo “cleaned up” the kitchen! He took each piece of pretend food and each pot and pan, one at a time, and placed it either in the refrigerator or in the sink. And it was clear that he had very particular ideas about where each one should go. At some points he would put something in the refrigerator, and then look at it thoughtfully, remove it, and carry it over to the sink instead. It was fascinating to watch! He spent a full 15 minutes cleaning up the kitchen, and when he had finished, everything was in what he deemed to be its proper place. It made Chris and I realize that we ought to start working with him on picking up toys, since he clearly enjoys the process of sorting things and putting them in their place. Hmmm, this could work to our advantage!

After our fun Saturday, we took it easy Sunday. Well, sort of. We ventured to Winco (a big discount supermarket that I hate--it’s dark and warehouse-like and always overcrowded…but it is indeed extremely cheap) for Thanksgiving staples. I refuse to buy meat there (we’ll spring for Nugget for that--I’m very finicky about meat), but they do have most of the staples we use, so occasionally I steel myself for a trip there. (More often I send Chris, but for Thanksgiving shopping, it takes two people.) We’re having Auntie Lynnie, Uncle Charles, Stevie, and my Mom over for Thanksgiving dinner, so we bought all the non-meat fixins for that. And then we took Theo and Luna’s Christmas pictures in the front yard. However, those shall remain under wraps so they’ll be a fun surprise when you get your snail-mail cards! But I have to say, Theo looked adorable in his Santa costume, and one of the non-card pix might just find its way into this week’s album as a sneak preview….

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone! We give thanks for all of the amazing people who are a part of our lives!