Being LittleDude: January 2012

Dear LittleDude,

It's the start of a new month and a new year. You, of course, don't understand that. You just know that Daddy has been home every morning for awhile and that you like it that way. I have a feeling you're not going to believe or like it when you wake up in the morning and I tell you Daddy is at work.

Right now, you're Daddy's little boy. Oh, you still cry when I attempt to leave you alone with Daddy, but as long as I don't actually leave the house, you're perfectly content to come to me only for the occasional cuddle and focus on Daddy for all the playing.

When it comes to play time, your Dinosaur Train trains and talking dinosaurs have taken a back seat to your Thomas trains for the past few days, though the dinos did get a little play time yesterday afternoon. I think we might have overwhelmed you with new dinosaur stuff over Christmas. At any rate, we now have 50 Thomas collections in our Netflix Instant Watch queue so you can practice saying, "Rocky," "Thomas" (which still sounds like Toggie), "Percy" (which sounds a little risque at times), "Toby," "Molly," "James," and "Bust my buffers! It's dark in here!" (thanks to your Percy flashlight) every time one of your favorite engines comes onto the screen.

Your train table has also taken a back seat to tracks on the floor. I think this is because it is difficult to see the television around the Christmas tree. We'll try to take care of that today. Yesterday, you actually took the tracks off your train table for the first time in a few months. The amazing thing is that you didn't just toss the pieces aside. Instead, you started rebuilding a track on the floor. We definitely need to get you some more track.

Your favorite game at the moment is "Sleep." Basically, this involves you leading every living being in the house (except for Fish) into Mommy & Daddy's bedroom, turning off all the lights, cuddling in Mommy & Daddy's bed, and repeatedly pretending to fall asleep and then wake up in a start. It's very cute, and one day, I hope I'll be able to catch it on camera (maybe during the day when you can't make it quite pitch-dark in the room).

Let's see....other things...

You still prefer to eat your meals at your own time. If you are very, very hungry, you might join us at the table for the first ten minutes of a meal, but usually, you still prefer to eat an hour after everyone else... coincidentally (I'm sure) right around the time you notice Daddy and me preparing for your bed- or nap-time routine. (A little con artist, you are.)

You also still shun meat. In fact, if the meat isn't a chicken nugget or a piece of lamb from a Middle Eastern dish (you seemed to love the Turkish restaurant last week), you won't touch it. Eggs? Yes. Vegetables? Sometimes...with increasing frequence. Carbs? Always. Meat? Almost never.

And finally, you're starting to show an interest in art. Up until now, you haven't been a fan of crayons or markers (and you still aren't a fan of markers because I haven't given them to you yet), but over the past week or so, you've discovered that mirrors make great canvases for bathtub crayons and that Daddy is a pretty good artist. Currently, in addition to your efforts, there's a Rocky engine, a Tiny Pteranodon, a Tank Triceratops, a Thomas engine, a Percy engine, and a Buddy Tyrannosaurus on Daddy's bathroom mirror.

I can't wait to see what this month brings for you.

I love you.
Love,  Mommy