I'm Reading "Little Blue Truck" for the 63rd Night in a Row...and It's Awesome!

Every night for the past two months, Anlee has insisted that we read the Little Blue Truck. She has the option of picking any book from her extensive baby library, yet she chooses this one for bedtime over and over again.

You might think that it gets old reading it night after night after night...nope, I love repeating every word.

Seeing her enjoy that book so much makes me cherish the repetitiveness. From her scanning the bookshelf to find it, then running it over to Dada to read, turning the pages, hearing the animal sounds, bouncing when we read "bump, bump, bump", and especially the final page turn. Her face lights up, she takes out her paci and she knows the Little Blue Truck goes "beep beep".

I know she'll soon grow out of the phase and move onto more exciting tales. And that's why I can't wait to read Little Blue Truck tomorrow night.

Anlee's Favorite Things...and Not So Favorite Things (18 Months)

Favorite things:

Talking - Anlee loves to hear herself talk. She'll gab about anything and her vocabulary is expanding by the day. Besides the normal mama and dada, she has a few other names she loves to shout when she either sees a picture or sees the real life person: me-me (Grandma Yvonne), ba-pa (Grandpa Wade), google (Grandma Twila), pa-pa (Grandpa Randy), ya-ya (Cousin Mariyah), ky-ky (Kyrie the puppy). Then she has her favorite objects like ball, na-na (banana), cracker, cookie, car, tree, peas, gock (rock), ring-ring (like a wedding ring), ning-ning (swing, which she is addicted to). Another favorite is action words like eat, knock knock (on every door she sees), no-no (especially to Kyrie). And she knows more than a dozen animal sounds...but horse and cow are her all-time favorites.

Walking - Anlee will go anywhere, and I mean ANYWHERE if she can get there with her own two legs. We went to the City Museum in St. Louis and she ran for baby miles. Whenever we go to my parents' farm in Missouri, she just takes off in any direction. We head to the park around home and she explores the entire venue, not much caring for the playground equipment (besides the swing)...but the rock trails and open grass fields are her real playground. Only when she's really tired will she ask to be carried.

Swimming - Unlike her father, Anlee could live in the water. Put a swimsuit on the girl and drop her in a pool and she's good for at least an hour. It's unreal how her attention span widens when she's sitting in H2O. Just a handful of floaty toys will keep her busy...unfortunately she also tries to drink the water on every occasion. This summer has been full of kiddie pool time and we are talking about possibly getting her big girl swimming lessons soon...her dad needs them, too.

TV Shows: Miles from Tomorrowland, Doc McStuffins, Micky Mouse Clubhouse and her Baby Genius Favorite Children's Songs DVD (mesmerized by it since since birth)

Food: Applesauce, Banana, Bread/Toast, Ice Cream, Green Beans

Activities: Closing open doors (especially the fridge), climbing stairs (still), starting to build blocks more, jumping on Google and Papa's trampoline, playing with Mrs. Potatohead.

Not So Favorite things:

When Mom and Dad Say No: The only one left from the 10 month list that still stands. She's getting to angry toddler phase - if she doesn't get exactly what she wants exactly when she wants it, a tantrum is coming. Throwing her head back and letting out a blood curdling scream is quickly becoming an Anlee trend. Luckily, we haven't had any major public displays of humiliation yet...but I know it's inevitable.

When Kyrie is in her way: Since getting a puppy, we've realized how much a toddler and an energetic fur ball can
clash. You have those rare, cute moments when Anlee will love on and kiss Kyrie. Or they will play peekaboo with each other behind the couch once in a while. But most of the time, the labradoodle with a charged up battery will just butt herself into every interaction with the child until Anlee is throwing bows just to get to the living room. Nearly every day, Kyrie is knocking Anlee down because she just doesn't know how big she is. Hopefully she grows out of the puppy stage soon or the human kid might just have to learn karate.

Baby Genius...with Animals

The Evolution of Baby Talk

Although Anlee has yet to say her first "real" word, she still has an expanding vocabulary of her very own. While the casual observer wouldn't be able to distinguish what she was saying, me and my wife can understand a few words here and there. I don't pretend to be fluent in Anleenese, but I can pick up on some phrases.

"dada": babble mostly, but she does sometimes get it right when we point to a picture
"mama": (see dada)
"pup-pup": puppy
"na-na": food, water or anything she wants to put in her mouth
"ba": ball
"gock": block or rock (interchangeable)
"uh": uh-oh
"EEEE": things aren't going the way I want them to

Her new favorite thing is to point at pictures, but I'm not sure if that's because she's trying to figure out who's who or because she's finally allowed to touch the frames. For the longest time, she was baby Godzilla, wrecking everything in her way...but now she's finally learned some finesse. I'm hoping the same comes with her words soon.

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

Grapes Are HILARIOUS

A baby's sense of humor is puzzling. Some mundane things are hilarious, while others are "eh", and a few are tantrum worthy. (Anlee's had a lot more throw-the-head-back, fall-on-the-ground toddler fits lately)

Tonight, we found out Anlee loves watching me catch grapes in my mouth. She giggles whether it's a successful try or a failure. It's awesome. Her cute belly laugh makes my heart happier than rainbow colored puppies dancing on a merry-go-round.

I can't wait to teach her how to toss food up and catch it on her own...but her mommy may not like it.

Life is Full of Tough Decisions

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

5 Reasons Why I Don't Mind Watching Toddler Cartoons...Occasionally

Doc tells it like it is. No insurance needed.

1. Full story in 15 minutes or Less

Because toddlers obviously have tiny attention spans, their cartoons pack an entire plot run in minimal time. There's no useless filler...just straight to the point action and dialogue. Doc McStuffins doesn't beat around the bush, perform body scans or MRI's, have any "will she or won't she" love interests in the clinic...she just tells it like it is. She diagnosed Sir Kirby's Dark Willies and cured him in the time it takes me to microwave popcorn!

2. Miss Something? No Problem

You can look away from a toddler cartoon for a couple minutes, and when you come back, pick up the storyline pretty easily. Mickey may have used a Mousekatool to get out of a jam, but he'll give you notice in a few more seconds on how many tools he's got left. If you miss a couple minutes of Game of Thrones, it's likely your favorite character just got assassinated or someone got naked...you know, major plot moments and stuff.

3. Life Lessons

Nearly every episode of a toddler cartoon is meant to teach something. You got the academic shapes, numbers, colors but you also have the moral lessons like sharing, caring and forgiveness. Sometimes it's good for adults to see these as a reminder of how you should act. Yeah, Captain Hook is being a lazy douche, trying to hypnotize Jake into doing Hook's work of finding treasure and all. Maybe I need to help my wife around the house...

Are these mice or chipmunks?

4. It's Funny Every Now and Then

I'll admit it: I have a pretty dry and dark sense of humor. I don't enjoy widely popular shows like Two and Half Men, Modern Family or The Big Bang Theory. But I can't help myself but grin a little when those little singing mice or chipmunks (my wife and I argue over their species) pop up on Sheriff Callie to reiterate an obvious point in bluegrass twang. And that robot-bird Merc on the new show Miles from Tomorrowland deserves his own damn spin-off sitcom...he's hilarious.

5. Because My Daughter Likes Watching It

Plain and simple. I'll sacrifice the first quarter of the Cavs game or a rerun of Seinfeld if my daughter and I can share some leisure and enjoyment. Seeing her smile and dance when the Hot Dog song comes on makes my night.

Disclaimer: My barely one-year-old daughter is not addicted to TV or any toddler cartoons. Most of the time, she watches the intro song and then moves onto hard, physical play time in the living room. She couldn't care less if Doc McStuffins got cancelled...though my wife and I might write Disney a strongly worded letter. 

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

Baby's First Word? The Guessing Game

We've got a new contender for Anlee's first word! She just started doing this a couple days ago:

So in Anlee language, there are six phrases:
"ba-ba" = ball

"ma-ma-ma" = mom or general speak

"da-da-da" = dad or general speak

"pup-pup" = puppy

"na-na" = food, water or anything she wants to put in her mouth

"EEEEE" = things aren't going the way I want them to

So which one will be her actually first word? Your guess is as good as mine...but it would be really cool for this dad if his daughter's first word was "ball." But daddy or mommy would be nice, too. As long as it's not Mizzou or Cubs or any other curse word.

Please feel free to share in the comments below what your kid's first words were and/or maybe how you tried to coax it out of them.  

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

Anlee Doing Anlee Stuff: Turning On the Lights, Turning Off the Lights

Anlee's First Snow Day

There's a long list of things that Anlee has yet to do. It's not quite right to call it a baby bucket list, but there are some life experiences she's got to go through before she turns two.

- Say her first word
- Pet a goat
- Eat Taco Bell
- Play in the snow

She checked off the last one this past weekend. We've waited all winter for the chance to get her outside in the white stuff. Anlee got a fluffy new snowsuit for Christmas that's just been collecting dust. She's been working on her high step to climb over the drifts and practicing her graceful fall into a pile of imaginary snow in the living room...at least, I think that's what she's been doing. And yesterday, we finally we got more than a ogre's dandruff worth of frozen precipitation.

So we went outside to take a few family pictures. Anlee made it through about three snapshots before exploding into a rager. (Side note: Most people stock up on bread and milk before a snowstorm...not us. We got baby snacks. Nothing is more vital to our survival as parents.) To charm the snake, we put a snack in her hand and we got an extra 20 seconds of Kodak moments. After the snack was gone, she got desperate and tried to eat the snow. It was not yellow, so we let her have at it until her hands got cold.

After a messy lunch and a nap, we initiated launch sequence for playtime and got her snow suit assembled. It didn't allow much room for motion, comparable to a chubby penguin in skinny jeans, but at least she was warm.

We tried to get her to scoop some snow or maybe throw a snow ball, but she just sat there...comfortable in her snow sofa. I built a tiny snow man, thinking she might want to topple him when I was through (she loves tearing down block towers), but she still just wanted to sit and stare. So after five or so minutes of an adventure, we decided enough was enough and went back inside.

Maybe she'll have more fun checking off the Taco Bell...

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

Anlee vs. Drake: 0 to 100 (Real Quick)

I never thought I'd say this, but some things were so much easier when Anlee was younger. Yes, she is just one. But technically, she is a toddler...and boy does she act like it.

When she was an "infant", there was always a reason behind her crying. The list was short: she was hungry, she was tired, she was cold, she lost her pacifier, she was teething. That's it. You knew if she was crying, it was because of one of those things. The task was to find which one.

But something wizardish happened when she turned one. She went from "infant" to "toddler" classification and somehow she was aware of it and had to behave like her new class. It was if someone waved a magic wand and cast a spell of tantrums.

Now I don't want to make it seem like she's in a horrible mood all the time. A majority of the day, she looks like this:

A happy baby, smiling about life and learning everything she can about what's around her. Her laughs are the best thing in my world. But as Drake said, she can go 0 to 100 real quick, real real quick. Perfectly fine and giggling one moment, baby rager the next.

Things That Can Start an Anlee Rager

• Gets anything taken away from her
• Runs out of milk
• Can't reach a desirable object
• Supervising adult shuts the gate leading to the stairs
• She falls...even if it's on her cushioned bum
• She nearly falls...but catches herself, surprising herself that she caught herself
• Steps on a toy and/or object she didn't see
• Carry her when she wants down
• Put her down when she wants down
• A toy doesn't act like she thinks it should
• A toy looks at her wrong
• The couch looks at her wrong

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

Fart Jokes: Is a Sense of Humor Hereditary or is it Taught?

This morning at 3 a.m. as I was rocking her, trying to put her back to sleep, my one-year-old daughter farted on me...and then laughed.

While Anlee has been cutting the cheese on my lap in the early morning hours for awhile now, this is the first time that she actually thought it was funny. Yes, before she can even talk, my baby daughter has fart jokes.

Perhaps it was just an accident, but it was hilarious to me. And it got me thinking more about her little sense of humor and how it compares to mine.

Is it funny?	Anlee	Daddy
Farting	Yes	Yes
Animal noises	Yes	Yes
Peekaboo	Yes	No
Window curtains	Yes	No
Splashing in the bath	Yes	Yes
Bubbles	Yes	Yes
Mickey Mouse	Yes	Sometimes
Peter Griffin	No	Yes
Dane Cook	No	No
Mommy Dancing	Yes	Yes

Could it be that my baby daughter is already picking up on what I think is funny? Or was she just born with a Jones-sense of humor?

It goes back to the age-old argument of Nature vs. Nurture.

I tend to think, in this case, humor is mostly nurture: as you absorb what's happening in your environment, you learn from others around you. What they smile about, you will smile about. What they giggle about, you will giggle about. What they cry about, you will cry about.

So perhaps Anlee caught me laughing at her flatulence a couple times and picked up on it. Or maybe she saw me chuckling to a Family Guy fart song. But there is always the possibility breaking wind is universally humorous...a stinky etch in our DNA.

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

Monday Meme

Anlee's Analytical Concepts of Yelling at Stuff 101

Since turning one, Anlee has become a real chatty Cathy. She dabbled in babble before, but she's now well voiced in, well, voice. 

And most of the time she isn't talking to anyone...at least any living, breathing thing. She'll carry on a conversation with herself, a toy, a piece of furniture, the window or a wayward Dorito crumb. It doesn't really matter to her, similar to Donald Trump, just as long as she can hear herself talk. 

She's speaking words that only she can understand, because so far I only recognize two phrases:

"na-na" = food (ALL food, drink and stuff she will put in her mouth)

"bub-bub" = puppy

Sure, she says "da-da-da" and "ma-ma-ma", but she isn't directing them at either one of her parents. Soon it will make sense to her though, very soon. But until then, she's just putting random consonants and vowels together to make these alien sentences. Anlee doesn't just use her inside voice though. Sometimes she whispers, sometimes she sounds like she's asking a question, however most of the time it's a straight up scream of vocal diarrhea.   

It's hilarious...for now. 

I'm guessing once she actually starts speaking intelligible English and sassing back to mom and dad, we won't think it's quite as funny. Until that happens though, she can keep hauling high decibel insults at the sofa all she wants.

Hump Day Humor: 5 Funniest Tweets of the Week So Far

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