Gobble Gobble

Turkey Day 2009

Instead of boring you all with a minute by minute recap of our Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I would simply give you the gist, and try something different this entry. In a nutshell…We went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for Thanksgiving Day. Edmund enjoyed watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Aunt Alison. For those of you who thought I would deprive Edmund of a grand tradition, I did let Edmund watch TV for this special occasion. He really was only interested in the musical numbers. What can I say? He comes from a musical family. We then had a delicious Thanksgiving feast prepared by the Pattishalls, which Edmund chose not to eat. He did however, divulge his knowledge of the sound a turkey makes during dinner. He took us all by surprise when I jokingly asked him what a turkey says. “Gobble,” he replied. Who knew? Edmund did not totally miss out on turkey. He decided to partake in the Thanksgiving meal the following day when he discovered that turkey and stuffing taste much better after sitting in the fridge overnight.

On Friday, Grandma Kay Kay and Granddad came down from Virginia. We had a wonderful visit. The highlight of the visit was our trip to the Museum of Life and Science. Edmund had a blast riding on the “choo choo” with Kay Kay and Granddad and climbing stairs in the designated toddler area. He was very disappointed when it was time to leave. Fortunately, there was no full-blown tantrum.

Not to cut the time with the relatives short (we love you all), but as I definitely have a huge case of “mommy brain” these days, I’m not sure I'm even capable of a full play-by-play two days out. Instead I am giving you a list of the words Edmund says and the Edmund definition. This is an abridged version (as I said, “mommy brain”). Edmund probably says a few more words than I have listed, and I can guarantee he understands hundreds more words than he can say. He’s quite the smart fellow.

Edmund’s Dictionary:

• water- all liquid
• hello, hey you, hi, ciao-greetings for many a social situation
  
• thank you-while the word takes on its true meaning most of the time, thank you is also used when handing an object to someone
  
• truck-a moving vehicle spotted from a mile away
  
• car-a place from which to view the sights
  
• cracker-any food that comes out of a crinkly package, be it cereal or pancake mix
• mama-self explanatory
• dada-again, self explanatory
• ball- any round object (balls, balloons, ornaments, globes, etc.)
• no-a toddler’s favorite word
• uh-oh-used when an object is dropped or in anticipation of dropping an object
• bye-usually said after a person is out of sight
• Emma-two of my favorite friends at school as well as a cousin in Florida (convenient)
• Joshua-my peek-a-boo buddy at school
• Bible-refers to the baby Bible I got for my dedication
• more-as in “read Silly Dog for the hundredth time” or “don’t you see my pasta is gone”
• all done-signals the end of an activity or “get that toothbrush out of my mouth”
• chair-great place to read
• baby-any person under the age of 13
• eye-accompanies an eye blink
• nose-located somewhere between the lips and eyes
• teeth-not sure why we have to brush these
  
• ear-oft referred to as eye
  
• Popper-the best toy ever invented, though occasionally a little loud
• Puppers-a wonderful bedtime pal
• quack-any sort of winged creature
• numbers-for now the name of a favorite book
• up-both "pick me up" and "put me down"
• bike-the big kids at schools ride these
  
• lawn mower-another great push toy or anything loud in the distance
• keys-great item to hide; fortunately usually in an appropriate spot such as purse or diaper bag
  
• hot-always said emphatically while accompanying its sign
• right there-"where's your fork?"
  
• bubbles-these are great fun to… (see below)
• pop-used with bubbles and in “Little Fish” (an awesome song)
• mine-for some reason this is a word mom and dad want to disappear from my vocabulary
• go-I'm always ready to "go"
• pee pee-another self explanatory word
• diaper-this holds the above word
• apple
• strawberry
• banana-the above are all tasty fruits
• shoe- a great thing to play with
• socks-you have to put these on before you put on shoes
• outside-a place to pass the day away
• cup-a holding place for water
  
• light-turning them on and off is a blast
• bowl-any container that holds food
• doctor-what my dada is learning to be
  
• Ho Ho Ho-what Santa Claus says
• owl (whoo whoo)-a fine feathered friend and the sound it makes
• choo choo-these are just all around fun
• on-used to signal wanting on, in, out, and off
• gobble-what Thanksgiving dinner says
• down-the ladder on the fire engine does this
• playground-another place to pass the day away
• Kay-Kay-grandmother in VA
• paci-an object that won’t be around much longer I'm told
  
• slide-any slide or incline
• whee-what one says when going down a slide
• beep beep- the name of a favorite book and what trucks do when backing up
• Carl-the babysitting dog from the Carl series
• peek-a-boo-the best game in the whole world

Two Word Phrases:

• my chair
• my mom
• my dada-notice how most of these include a form of “mine”
• more water
• help please-sounds like “I Do”

As you can see, Edmund is becoming well versed in the English language. It’s quite amazing that 6 months ago Edmund's only discernible words were bye and dada. He’s come a long way. On another note, I'm sure you all have noticed the postings are now occurring monthly. This is due to a certain 33 inch tall man. Edmund, as well as his 7 toddler friends, are busy and fun, and thus exhausting. So while I want to document everything my precious son does, I also need my sleep to keep up with 8 busy toddlers day after day. Writing is taking a backseat to sleep these days I'm afraid. I’m sure there will be many tales to relate throughout the holiday season, so to make sure you each get your Edmund fix I am going to try to get two posts in during the Christmas vacation. This is as much for me as it is for all of you. Wish me luck!

Edmund Says Trick or Treat

Ahoy Maties

October has been a crazy month for the Pattishalls. Steven started an on-call pediatric rotation at the end of September. This meant another round of single parenting for me, as Steven was gone all day and night every 4th day and left every morning before Edmund got out of bed. I have a newfound respect for single parents everywhere. Fortunately, I had help from Edmund's Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Alison. October wasn't all about crazy schedules, however. We did manage to fit some fun in here and there. Steven has always considered Halloween one of his favorite holidays, so you could be sure Edmund was going to get his chance to celebrate the holiday big time,

This past week was full of Fall Festivals and Halloween Parties galore. We kicked off the celebration last Saturday by attending a Halloween party for the children in my mom's group. Since last year, the mom's group has broken off into two branches-one for stay at home moms and one for working moms. This was the first time the whole group has gotten together since last year's Valentine's Day party. It was amazing to see how big the "babies" have gotten. They are their own little people. Edmund wasn't quite as amazed with the development of his buddies as he was with a plate of Halloween shaped mini PB&J sandwiches. None of the other children seemed to notice they were at perfect toddler height. After Edmund's sixth little sandwich we had to ask for the plate to be put out of toddler reach. Edmund was bummed to be sure. Edmund also immediately made a miniature stroller discovery. He is entranced by all push toys, especially mini strollers. Unfortunately for him all the other kids were just as enamored with the stroller, and sharing is hard work when you're only 16 months old. Thus, after the requisite photo-op with the other children, (Edmund's pirate costume was hands-down the cutest), we bid our old baby friends adieu.

Wednesday was Edmund's preschool's Fall Festival. Because we were dealing with kids under 3, the activities were incredibly simple, but the kids wore themselves out anyway. Edmund also wore his mommy out, as he followed me around saying "mama," in just about every inflection you can imagine. Edmund colored a paper pumpkin outside, but thought it much more fun to color on the fence, so the activity was short lived. He spent most of his time at the sticker station, sticking Halloween stickers to a large piece of paper with his buddies. He has finally figured out how to get the sticker off his hand to stick it to paper, but I think we've got quite a way to go before he gets the hang of peeling. Believe me, he tries his hardest. The Fall Festival concluded with a lunch of pumpkin penne (a recipe I found in one of my magazines). Edmund loved, loved, loved the pumpkin penne. He came very close to turning into a pumpkin, as he was covered head to toe in it by the end of lunch.

Friday evening we headed to Chapel Hill Bible Church's Fall Festival. Again Edmund won the contest for cutest costume. Too bad there wasn't an actual contest! We began our night with a delicious meal of hot dogs. Edmund was in heaven when he saw there was mac and cheese. Steven and I have decided if Edmund had to choose just one food to eat for the rest of his life, it would be mac and cheese. After dinner we headed to the preschool games. Edmund was still a little young for them, but had fun anyway. In the first game he was supposed to find two toy animals buried in deer corn. Edmund found the animals, but didn't care. He was more interested in sifting his hands through the deer corn. He was having quite a blast with this until we had to abruptly lead him away from the activity. He thought it was hilarious to throw the corn on the floor. He couldn't understand why mommy and daddy insisted on stopping this fun. We took him to claim his prize--his very first piece of candy. Fortunately for mommy, he chose her favorite, 3 Musketeers. Edmund tried his hand at a few more games with assistance of course. We ended the evening with a family picture taken on a haystack. The perfect end to the evening.

What's that you say? Wasn't Edmund partied out before the actual day? Of course not! On Halloween we took our pumpkins to Grandma and Grandpa's to carve. If you'll recall last year Edmund was very willing to touch pumpkin guts. This year he made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with the stuff by shaking his head and saying a very definitive "unh unh." We had done a pumpkin sensory activity at school the previous week and Edmund had also refused to get involved with the gooey stuff then. However, I thought it was just him giving me a hard time at school as usual. Turns out he really does not like guts. I can't blame him. He loves painting, getting messy in sand, and even shoving pumpkin penne in his mouth, but pumpkin guts--too much. When the sun started to set we got Edmund dressed in his pirate costume yet again. Edmund was pumped about his first trick-or-treating experience, or was that his mom and dad? We took him out Grandma and Grandpa's back door around to the front so he could get the bizarre idea of trick-or-treating with familiar people first. He was more interested in their stairs than the candy, so we decided to move onto the next house. Edmund refused to carry his little pumpkin, making mommy and daddy do the heavy lifting. We trick-or-treated at a total of five houses. With each house Edmund got better at choosing candy and dropping the pieces in his pumpkin. However, I would say his candy choices this evening were debatable. He didn't pick many of mommy's favorites. Edmund loved the final house. Before I even spotted it Edmund was saying "watoo, watoo," his word for water. Edmund was mesmerized by a cauldron of bubbling water. Let me say here that he gave us quite a fit when we left that house. You could hear calls of "watoo, watoo" for miles. This Halloween also gave me insight into why I was never as big a fan of Halloween as my friends were. For someone who can be extremely shy in social situations, ringing a stranger's doorbell is about the last thing you want to do. This year I made Edmund do the ringing!