Ronan and Friends

A: Mama has some friends coming over today.

Ro: RoRo has friends too!

Ronan and friends

Our trip to California was so lovely it was hard to return. Ronan still talks about driving, flying, or taking a train to Nana and Papa's house almost daily, plus he thinks he gets presents all the time. We miss people, weather, old haunts, and being on vacation!

While we were in CA, "Ronie can do it" began to turn into "I can do it" (and other I phrases), a transformation that is now complete. Gone are the days of "that feels Ronie better." He quickly discovered the incredible power of the phrase "I want", and for about a week started every sentence that way. This week has brought more linguistic diversity but the hallmark toddler talk is gone. (Ever notice how Elmo on Sesame Street refers to himself in the third person? Ronan is now older than Elmo!).

Grownup friends too!

One of the concepts Ro has been exploring this month is pretend, and I have to say it's tricky. He knows that invisible items are pretend, and he knows that a statue of a horse isn't a real horse, but it's a different kind of pretend than something that doesn't exist. This has led to quite a few questions like "Is this real mama?" Well, it's a real object, but it's pretending to be something else. Confusing!

Ronan has also been asking us whether something is good to eat, whether a milk bottle he finds out is still good, and whether he will like a food. He tried his first ginger snap the other day and it went something like this.

Ro: Are Ginger Snaps good dada?

D: Well I think they're good. You might like it.

Ro (tries it): Ooh! I do like it!

As Ro gets older, he also gets more independent, which has its perks. This weekend we played a card game with friends for 45 minutes while Ronan played on his own and visited. Amazing! We've been blessed with two sets of visitors this month, mostly timed on either side of the week-of-crazitude (I burned the midnight/4am-oil working on grants, D wrote a bunch of code for his paper coming out, and I got the stomach flu on top of laryngitis). This weekend we all lazed about so effectively I almost feel recharged and ready for the semester to start next week.

No snow yet! And mama's big gloves......................................Snow! And chopping wood!

Winter has taken a long time in getting here, but we finally have beautiful powdery snow. Ronan wasn't a huge fan of our sledding attempts this morning, but the sled came in very handy during his nap for towing chopped wood to the wood pile. Now it's time to settle in, drink tea, and get ready for the new semester!

Quotes:

Jan 7, 2012: [After milk delivery] That's the milkman. Just like the muffin man.

Jan 8: [Ronan up on me, running in our driveway]

Ro: You like running

A: Do you want to run?

Ro: Yeah, but right now I'm in the street. [He knows he can't run in the street!]

Ro: Would you like me to sing you a song? Miss Molly had a dolly who was sick sick sick…

Jan 14:

A: Mama is getting sick

Ro: You should have some gummy bear. You should have one of mine.

Jan 14: [pointing to his wooden horse] Is this real mama?

Jan 16: I wanna stay on mama the train. Hi momma down low!

Jan 18:

Ro: Thank you!

D: Thank you for what?

Ro: Thank you for you!

Favorites this month:

things: workbench, horse "Sarah", stomp rocket, apron, and rabbit "coffee" mug

books: Richard Scary's ABC book

poems: Shel Silverstein's Boa Constrictor and Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout

phrase: Oh rats!

foods: raisins, gummy vitamins

nonsense: Pretend poops are called foofs