DEVO

While at Grandma Judy's house this weekend, Rory kept asking to essentially "rewind" things on tv and watch them over and over again like we do at our house. I overheard Judy say to Rory, "Sorry kiddo, but we don't have Devo." Rory gave her a funny look and then shouted, "Tivo, Gramma Judy! It's TIVO!"

Perhaps we're watching a little too much tv at home, eh?

A Weekend in Mariposa

This past weekend, we drove up to Mariposa to visit Papa Stan and Grandma Judy. If you haven't heard me talk about Mariposa before, just imagine a beautiful rural town outside of Yosemite where there are just as many deer as there are mullet hairdos. Rory absolutely loves it in Mariposa, where his Grandma Judy gives him toy guns to play with and an endless supply of whipped cream to lick off his fingers. He also gets to ride bareback on the family's 30 year old horse, Frosty, and pee outside in the rain if he so pleases. Basically, it's a little boy's dream come true.

Luckily, Mariposa is also a blogger's dream come true. Where else can you find people landscaping their front yards using old tires and blue tarps? Or see your mother-in-law give her dog Dodger his heart medicine in a big, fat, artery-clogging pat of butter? Or have your bartender, who is chewing tobacco and spitting into a clear cup right in front of your face, checking his "Bartending for Dummies" book when you ask for a drink? Yup, there ain't no place like the 'Posa!

Unfortunately, I forgot to charge our camera before we left for the weekend, so I was only able to snap one picture during the entire trip:



Sorry I can't provide you with the chew spit visual I so wanted to share with the world. Next time, I guess!

Want to read more Mariposa stories? Get your fill here

Newsletter 2.1

Dear Rory -
Along with your new two year old status, I decided that I needed to change the title of your monthly newsletters a bit. I can't very well continue to title them according to how many months old you are (ie. 25 months now!) since that is certain to annoy the crap out of everyone who doesn't have a toddler at home, so instead I've decided to roll out the newsletter 2.0 title system. Basically, this month will be Newsletter 2.1, next month 2.2 and so forth until your next birthday when we upgrade to 3.0 ... but I shouldn't get ahead of myself - the terrible twos are FAR from over!

So now that I have that out of the way, what can I say about the last month? Actually, I don't feel like I've been saying much of anything lately since I can hardly get a word in now that you've turned into an unstoppable chatterbox. I swear that the second your eyes pop open in morning, your mouth pops open too with an endless stream of dialogue that doesn't stop until we put you to bed. I may not understand everything you are saying, but you have no problem repeating a word or phrase over and over again until we get it right. And I mean OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

Speaking of repetition, you are also very into listening to your favorite three songs ("Up and Down", "Spin Around", and "Big House" - all titled as such by you) until your father and I end up walking around all day at our various places of employment singing these songs under our breath and driving our co-workers crazy. But watching you sing along to these songs word for word while making up silly little dances to them is totally worth the death glares from my fellow baristas. And because your singing is so damn cute, I'll continue to press the repeat button when you scream, "AGAIN, MAMA, AGAINNNNN!", even though every fiber of my being wants to rip the disc out of the cd player and chuck it out the window into oncoming traffic. I love you THAT MUCH.

And as if there isn't enough repetition in our lives already, I couldn't get through this newsletter without mentioning the word we hear constantly throughout the day, EVERY DAY - the ever popular, "NOOOOOOOOO!". Whether I'm asking you to be still for a diaper change, trying to get you dressed in the morning, or attempting to get you to follow any sort direction whatsoever, it's inevitable that it's going to be met with a very loud "NO!". I get that this is a normal thing for two year olds, but boy, does it get old. Really, really, really old. I have to admit though that lately I find myself saying it just as much as you do - so perhaps it's something we BOTH can work on, okay?

Aside from the repetition torture you're inflicting upon us, I have to say that everything else is going fairly well. Your vocabulary continues to wow us on a daily basis - it never fails to amaze us with how much that brain of yours can hold. You love playing pretend these days, especially in your new play kitchen, and I can't even put into words how cool it is to watch you imitate me when you pretend to cook. Like seeing you grab a dish towel and use it to pull something out of your "oven", or watching you pour "tea" into a cup and then blow on it just like I do. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but nothing prepared me for the way my insides would turn to mush while watching you try to act "just like Mama." It's moments like those that make me forget all about the "No, No, No's" and the little tantrums and just make me happy to be a mom.

Even the mom of a two year old.




I love you, Ro Ro Monkey!

Love,
Mama

Well, At Least He's Wearing a Helmet!

Mama's Little Helper

Just one video couldn't quite convey the cuteness factor so here are two for your viewing pleasure!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

We've been teaching Rory the names of the different cities that his various family members live in, so today we were playing a game in the car where I said the name of the person and he would yell out where they live:

Me: Papa?
Rory: CALABASAS!
Me: Dada?
Rory: CAMARILLO!
Me: Grandma Judy?
Rory: MARIPOSA!
Me: Mama?
Rory: STARBUCKS!

OUCH.
Is this a hint or what?