all about stan

Stanley is really starting to talk a lot, saying harder words like soccer ball (backa-bah), and he can ask for things nicely by saying yes please (ess peese cheese; ess peese go). He tries to tell all about it when he thinks something is funny or impressive. He's getting pretty conversational. And he can repeat most of the words in a prayer.

He is learning songs and will ask for them by singing what little he can of them. His favorites are Wheels on the bus (all verses!), Old McDonald, I've been working on the railroad (the dance that goes with that one is to put both hands on top of your head and run around in a circle; he does it every time and insists that we do it to--no one taught him this), and any song with the word Jesus in it, especially Jesus said love everyone, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam (with the bounce, of course), when we're helping we're happy, and I amd like a star. I'm sure I'm leaving some out.

He gets excited to see snow, things that are tall, and animals. He likes to (but is not encouraged to) put drinks/bathwater in his mouth and spit it out in a long stream. He has discovered bathtub swimming. Whenever we cross the front porch, he pats this little raised part on the side and says "eat? apple?" (which is how he asks to eat, because of the song I Like To Eat Eat Eat Apples and Bananas...) and I go grab some snack and we have a little picknick. He loves to cook and "do dishes". He loves to jump off things and have us catch him. He LOVES Finding Nemo.

At least once a day we 'play games' by getting out the games, one at a time, taking all the pieces out, and putting them back away. His favorites are Monopoly, Chess, Go, Cities and Knights, Scrabble, a Pooh memory game we just got at a garage sale, and dominoes. he doesn't like Boggle or Sequence. He loves rolling dice. He likes putting on lotion and chapstick, and he likes to try to put on makeup when he finds it, but he usually can't open it. He loves his soccerball and football, and sleeps with them each night. He loves fire trucks and explosions and crashes. He is really good at stacking blocks.

He is still testing and re-testing the rules about biting and hiting, but he is finally starting to respond to phrases like "if you hit me with that, I will take it away; if you bite me, you will go in your crib." He has 4 teeth left to grow, but one of those is finally peeking through. They are the four pointy corner teeth; he already has the molars behind them. He is really a sweet and gentle boy, and he's really starting to be a companion, not just a baby.