Tolido's World

In Tolido's world you gotta watch out for a bored mommy with a ball point pen and a cute face to draw on!

New Clothes

He's about grown out of them since it's taken me SO long to get back to the blog, BUT... I made Tolido seven shirts with matching pants and shorts. They turned out adorable. I think this one is my favorite. ;)

When I was little my mom apparently sewed enough that I got tired of her sewing machine and tried to beat it to death with a hairbrush. When I sew, Tolido will sit on my lap and watch or point at the pin cushion and say, "ouch!" He picks up all the fabric scraps on the floor and throws them in the trash or rides his rocking horse like a bandit in the sewing room. And whenever a shirt becomes recognizable as such, he walks over and points to it and says, "Todo" and grins. He is a far more patient two and a half year old than his mother was...

He loves his new clothes and all the attention he gets from them. And if you ask where he got them, he'll say, "Mommy!" I like that part. :)

Tolido's 1st days of Days of School

Tolido is a big boy now! He goes to school three days a week - leaves with Daddy when he goes to work and comes home with Daddy at the end of the day. I love it. Tolido loves it too. Everyday we get a report card - seems excessive to me but, it's kinda fun too. The very first day the "Note to parents" section said, "Awesome first day!!! He's a very good kid. :) We loved having him in the class." Wow! Great job, Wingnut! He got a bowl of ice cream just 'cuz Mommy was SO very proud of him. And so it has continued. He gets a little clingy when Daddy walks him up to the door of the school and sometimes he fusses. But the teachers say he is happy all day at school and he's getting lots of interaction with other children which is something he was desperately lacking hanging with Mommy all day at home. They only speak Spanish to him at school and that seems to be sinking in. He now says "si!" instead of "yes" and calls cookies "galletas". He wears a little uniform to school and looks so grown up. Yesterday he came home with an "incident report" because another little kid bit him on the arm. Apparently Tolido just let him bite. I explained to him that there are more effective solutions to discouraging biters... ;) So school seems to be agreeing with T and the quiet time apart is agreeing with Mommy too.

Poor Neglected Blog

Oh... hmmm. I sometimes wonder if I should continue my blog. I have my hands in so many things that this poor little blog is often relegated to the foot of the totem pole.

Since I last posted here I've relocated all the servers for my company. I've hosted several big parties. I've fought with a crazy neighbor who's accusing me of things I've only *thought* about doing... so far. Tolido has started school. I have survived what Ken is sure was the swine flu. And I've been on a 16-day vacation in which we drove 4080 miles and visited family in Iowa, Virginia and Alabama. I think that's about it. Oh...and I still have that little thing they call a full-time yob. ;)

And then there is the interference of Facebook. It's just hard to keep up with both.

Postings may be intermittent but, for now, I will try to keep going with this... just for my HUGE following. ;)

New Words!

We have new words: comb, turtle, hippo (bow bow), bear, mouse, man, broom, bus, hand, help, girl, hair, ear, cat, bird, doll, juice, toe, cow, up, out, green, snake, truck, milk and FOOD (his favorite). I have a very stubborn, very stubborn little man. I've met ornery mules that were more tractable. But I am encouraged. You should hear him say turtle - so frickin cute!

Oh Please Speak....

This morning I made the mistake of putting my foot down and insisting that Tolido at least TRY to say the word P O T T Y. "Pah' Tee" It was stupid on my part but I'm so tired of him not making progress where speech is concerned. I last posted about this mid-April. Since then we've had a grand total of THREE new words. Oh, come on, really?! Really. I can say, "Tolido, Please wash your hands, throw the wipe in the trash then go pick up the towels off the floor and take them to the laundry room and then clean up your playroom." He'll do it. I can ask him to stop playing, go upstairs, take off his clothes and get into the tub. He does it. He's not stupid. He understands every word. His vocabulary comprehension-wise is immense. But he SAYS little. He knows all his colors but will only say "blue." He says "Daddy" incessantly which is just about to drive both Daddy and Mommy completely nuts. He does a lot of pointing and says "eh" to show us what he wants. I think that for too long we have been naming things he points at with too little required in return. We talk to him. We read to him. We have now decided that he will get no more given to him without verbal work on his part. I've printed up 100 pretty flashcards with pictures of things he should be able to say. He will learn these. I will read books to him without pause until he begins to speak. I've taken his favorite toys out of the toy room and placed them along the edge of the bar. He can see them but can't reach them. We just explained to Tolido that he must tell Mommy what he wants, by name, if he wants to play with them. He is not happy. You should see the little glaring looks!! Tolido speech has, today, become my obsession. I shall flood his brain with words! :)

Memorial Day 2009

Freedom Isn't Free
~ Kelly Strong

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

On this Memorial Day we remember our troops of today and yesterday and their families who have given so much to our country and on her behalf. God bless you all. And thank you.