New Photos Up at Shutterfly

In which Elijah plays with Thomas and Grammer Lynda and Grandpa Pow, and enjoys putting his mama's clean undies on his head, and discovers the biggest leaf in the world, and arranges his trucks into various formations around the house . . . here.

Catch up

Colds. Two in two months. Everyone sick. Blech. Snot. Poor us.

Words. So many words! I've been writing and teaching with em. Marty's been writing em too. Elijah's been learning new ones every day. Some favorites (of mine, of his): smile (which he pronounces "saba"), caterpillar (calpidah), Grandpa Paul (Gampapow), Dumptruck Duck (adum aguch aduch), Thomas (the Tank Engine, which he pronounces "tahps"), cozy (which he pronounced "coze" until very recently). Some favorites of his (or at least things he talks about all the time): bulldozer (bullo), bus, truck (guch), kitty cat, airplane (aybaden), helicopter (helcloppah), KK (my frined Karla), necky bath (this is pics of him in the bath with cousins, which he asks to look at every day at least once . . . in general he is pretty into nudity, wants to be naked, is happy when we're naked, shouts out "necky" whenever he sees people outside in tank tops or shorts or photos in magazines where the models look undressedish). He also talks about all of his grandparents a lot and his cousin Harper (although sometimes he calls her hippo and he also named his hippo Harper). He also modifies things all on his own "Big truck" or "Loud motorcycle" or "Brown leaf" etc.

Ideas. I'm amazed at how much Elijah thinks and conceptualizes (one night at dinner he said "rocket ship" so I asked him where it went and he said to the sky [sykah] and I asked him what else is in the sky and he gave me a long list: moon, sun, airplane, cloud . . . ) and remembers . . . not just that he remembers things but that he remembers orders and minute details. He will tell me stories about what he did or what we saw together and he's very particular to put things in chronological order. He's started watching Elmo's House on Sesame Street after naps (I have two DVRed episode that he watches) and he will start to talk about Mr Noodle (missa noonul) and all the things Mr Noodle did on the episode and puts them in the order he did them in (hop like a kangaroo, waddle like a duck, leap like a frog, etc.). Yesterday, he saw a new episode (the second one, which we hadn't ever gotten to) in which Elmo plays a steel drum on a beach in the Caribbean and he completely freaked out. He demanded to be let out the front door and stood on the porch saying "Elmo? Rum?" Rum is his word for water, and so I guess he wanted to go to wherever it was Elmo was and see that sparkly blue water. It was super weird and he's never mistaken a picture for reality before. Maybe he was a Caribbean drum player in a former life? Whatever it was, this kid needs to see the beach!

Pics. I put up photos from September. October soon.

Autumn. It's cool and pretty here. This is Elijah in autumn gear:

Words, words, words

There's sort of no point in keeping track of Elijah's new words at this point . . . he's starting to come out with them too fast to track, several each day at least. So, here's the last list I'll make, just to remember the "first" of his words:

Please
Thank you
Flag
Broccoli
Avocado
Quiche
Apple
Ballerina
Love
Lid
Lap
Grass
Touch
Push
Backhoe
Motorcycle
Airplane
Roller
Ship
Lay down
Sit down
Blue
Green
Kiss
Bedroom / room
Oval
Diamond
Ladybug
Monkey
Snake
Hippo
Elephant
Caterpillar
Giraffe
Eye
Backyard
Big
All done

He also can tell you what all the letters of his name are if you point to them ("Elijah, what's this?" "E." "Elijah, what's this?" "H" . . . ) and I just realized the other day that you can turn the tables and ask him what everyone and everything on the bus is doing ("Elijah, what do the wipers on the bus do? "Swish, swish." "Elijah, what do the babies on the bus say?" "Wah wah wah.").

New Batch

Elijah has a whole new batch of words. He's also been saying some pretty awesome sentences. 3am the other morning: "Mama, help . . . more ninny-milk." He tells long stories with what he's got. When he and his dad go out in the jogging stroller early in the morning he comes back and tells me: "Dada, lolo (stroller), honk honk (geese), mmmmm (moon), guck (truck) . . ." I'm also pretty amazed at how much he remembers. We passed a school bus and then immediately after it a fire truck on the corner of our street last week and now whenever we go in the front yard he says: "Bus, weeooo weeooo weeeoo." Also we checked a book out of the library and read it a few times and the next time we went back to it he knew the noises for "how each animal eats": bear = grum grum, cat = lippity lap, beaver = crunch munch, giraffe = rip-scrunch, etc. And his problem solving skills are sharpening. At the library last week he was holding a piggy bank toy and went up to the Playskool playhouse wanting to open the window shutters. He realized he'd need his hands, but wouldn't give up the pig, so he put it between his chest and the house and leaned on it. Problem was, he was then leaning on the shutters, which open out. So he put the pig back in his hands and thought. So then he put the pig on the floor, opened the window, picked up the pig, threw the pig through the window, shut the shutters, end. Anyway, here are the words I can decipher (there are of course many more that I can't yet figure out):

stroller (lo-ler; cute, but can't really compete with cousin Jack's amazing stro-ler-ler)
wind
close
bean
noodle (a very emphatic nhoo-nul)
rice
seeds
raisins
bunny rabbit
butter
yuck yuck (for any stray hairs, spiders, or spider's web, of course)
snacks
belt
grrrr (for scary face)
la la la (for song)
pillow
light
wall
bed
shirt
bulldozer
helicopter (says "clop")
bath
scissor
Pat and Pat's house (our neighbor)
penis
bare butt
back
belly
bear
zebra
blocks
umbrella
yes
off
in

PS - Pics up at Shutterfly for August.
PPS - He is still the world's worst sleeper. Last night he was awake from midnight to about 3:15. Cries a little, snuffles, rolls around, can't get comfortable, sits up and talk, complains, laughs, talks some more, whispers to himself, eyes wide open, rolls around, can't sleep, sits up, crawls down the bed, repeat. New plan is to cut off all nighttime ninny-milk cold turkey (except for nursing to sleep). It's getting drastic. A year and a half later and none of us is sleeping. Still. For shit's sake.

Some S P R A W L reviews

I told Dad I'd be sure to post reviews here, when I got some. So here is one at Bookforum. And here is the start of one at The Believer.

For the record . . .

Elijah says:

hi
bye bye
mama
dada
baby
Loretta
Elijah
stick
dirt
rock
yuck yuck
bear
truck
car
bus
choo choo
neck
necklace
mouth
cheeks
knee
water
cup
pancake
olive
watermelon (see previous post)
grape
apple
spoon
walk
glove
out
sun
moon
cloud
no
balloon
kitty cat
ball
hat
hot
cookie
cracker
bread bite
egg
ninny (nursing)
flower
up
down
grandma
pat pat
round (a verb)
sock
shoe
clock
booger
gate
dump
book
bike
boat
bonk
rip

He signs:
more
all done
nursing
buttefly

He makes animal sounds for:
cat
dog
sheep
horse
cow
pig
pigeon
peacock
goose
donkey
monkey
lion
dinosaur
tiger
bear
fish
snake
bee (bug)
owl
bird
duck
squirrel
rooster
chicken
dolphin
turkey
frog

That's all I can remember right now.

Oh, and he has been trying like the dickens to say "ballerina" because of a small plastic figurine on the shelf. The closest he gets is saying "ball" + "watermelon," which actually makes sense, I think, from a musical standpoint (but then again, I am the proud mama).

Watermelon Man

Watch him in action here.

Rocking the indie bookstores!

Awesome little write-up about S P R A W L on their website. Scroll down to find it.

Genius

Probably all parents have moments where they think their kid is a genius. I think it has to do with how totally amazing kids are. They kind of are, all, for the most part, genius. That said, lately Elijah has been blowing me away with what a for reals genius he is! He has started word combining . . . and he can't even really talk, yet. So, for example, this morning he woke up between me and Marty and we were both like, blahhhhhhhhhhh, and he was all, hooooooooooooray, and it apparently took me too long to start to rise, so E grabs my head in his hands and says dee da (translation: up) mama. So, of course, I dee da-ed right away. Another example: we've been working really hard on trying to teach him to be gentle with the cat. We even checked out a book from the library called Tails Are Not for Pulling. So now we ask him: Elijah, are tails for pulling? He thinks about it for a while and then shakes his head no. As of yesterday he started actually saying "no." He says nnnnnnnnu. So this morning when he went to give the cat his daily greeting/morning attack, we said: Elijah, are tails for pulling? And he said: Adn (his "meow") nnnnnnnnnnu. Also this morning he said "dis sssssssssssssssss." Translation: read the snake book. Total genius!

Also just wanted to mention that he's been talking in his sleep a lot. Mostly he wakes up asking for us to read: dis dis dis. One night, though, he didn't wake up but he said "Dada" really loud and then giggled.

Greg and Heather!

Marty went to Denver last week to see our dear friends Greg and Heather get hitched. Pics up now in the July album at Shutterfly. This is my favorite. They are beautiful!

That's me between Peter Mayle and Stephen King!

Check it out. S P R A W L front and center in the McNally Jackson Bookstore in NYC! And with a "Recommended" sticker to boot.

Noises

This is a picture of Elijah trying out a goose honk. He's a very good honker. It's quite enthusiastic, quite life-like. In a way, the animal noises are names. When he sees an animal in life or in a book he points and makes its noise-name: mmmmm (cow), ney ney (horse), ssssssssss (snake), da ha ha (sheep and my favorite, crazy, maniacal, sheep-laughter), hon hon (goose), a guttural trill (pigeon), a snort (pig), zsa zsa (bee), panting (dog), two soft blowing o's (owl), etc. For cat, he's been saying kee ca (and his meow goes: dadn dadn, for whatever reason). He also says raw raw raw (for rocks), ba (for ball), rou rou (for round and for things that spin), dick (for stick), dir (for dirt), guch (for truck), ou (for outside), dee da (for up), duh (for down), wa wa (water), bbbbbb (for bubbles), hoh (for hot), boom (balloon), hah (hat), guh ou (go out), mama, dada. And there are still the Momo noises: deegadeegadeegadeega, duhguyduhguyduhguyduhguy, meenumeenumeenumeenu. It's clearly starting to get really frustrating for him that we don't always understand what he means. We often don't. Last night when we were doing our bedtime routine, he kept raising his arms (a kind of existential pointing-at-everything) and saying dis (which is what he normally says when he wants you to read a book, but it's usually when he has a particular book in his hands). I kept showing him books and he'd shake his head to say no and do the whole thing over. I still have no idea what he wanted. Maybe he didn't either? Anyway, sitting at breakfast just now and he's going hm hm hm hm and making the sign for more. More strawberries, please.

Walker

I've had some requests for walking vids. Here he is in Chicago O'Hare airport on our way back from Denver two weeks ago. Before you tell me to cut his hair, it's usually curly, what with summertime in Illinois, so not just laying there on his face like that. He had flat Rocky Mtn hair that day. But cute, you know, no matter what. Enjoy.

Catching Up

We're been busy lately, which seems wrong, somehow, since it's summertime. It's so hot here today, hot and sticky and tornado-warningy. Makes me tired, cranky, lazy. But there's no time for any of that! I'm busy getting Dorothy's second book to the printer this week, and working on publicity stuff for our first book, and some stuff for my own book(s), and we spent a week in Boulder at Naropa where I taught a class called Performances of the Everyday, and gave a reading, and moderated a panel on small press publishing. And of course there is always Dalkey work. Always! Meanwhile, Elijah is busy in all his own ways . . . he started walking the first morning in Boulder. Maybe he needed a change of pace? Or a truly different altitude? He just woke up and walked. Done. And he's started obviously mimicking our speech. He had on a shirt today with a duck another duck and a goose and he walked around saying (sort of) Duck Duck Goose, which I'd said when I dressed him. He also makes a whole zoo's worth of truly adorable animal sounds. Newest additions: goose, snake, rooster. And his pigeon is getting really good. Uncle Ethan would be so proud. He's just so communicative lately. He points and gestures a lot and this morning, after clearly asking to go out for about an hour (we were really busy doing Dorothy stuff and waking up and making breakfast, etc.), he waddled into the kitchen with his sandals in his hands and held them up to me. Kid knows what he wants! He is a very sweet boy. Gives lots of kisses. Has started trying to pick up and hug the cat. Loves his mom and dad very much. And is loved, ridiculously, totally, resoundingly, in return. Yesterday we went to a little petting farm with Katrin and Anton and a goat started to nibble the hem of my skirt (actually, I was a little scared too), and Elijah got so upset. He was pretty obviously afraid the goat would eat his mom and also it seemed he wanted to defend me but wasn't sure how, since the goat was about an inch taller than him, and had horns. Okay, M is getting him to sleep and I'm going to brush my teeth and read. I'm working my way through Anna Karenina during naps. Pictures soon.

I finally put up new pics at Shutterfly. Also . . .

You may have noticed a lot of vegan-type websites and blogs popping up under my links over there. We've officially made the switch. There's been a little back and forth (from vegetarian to vegan) and I still sometimes eat vegetarian when I'm at a friend's house and they've cooked me something but not cooked vegan. Anyway, we're getting there and I'm feeling so happy about the decision! If you ever want to talk about it with me--the food/recipes, the animal rights issues, the environmental issues, the love--I'd be thrilled to!

Also over in the links: Dorothy, a publishing project! Not sure when you last checked it out, but it's pretty close to a f'reals website now. Or, actually, yeah, it's f'reals. We just got two advance finished copies of our first book back from the printer. It's pretty. So pretty.

And: Siglio. The book page for S P R A W L is now up. The book had its first review, at Publishers Weekly. It was neither good nor bad, which I'll decide to think of as good. Really, I think it tipped more to the good, but it was largely descriptive. But the two reviews under mine (the only other ones I glanced at) were kinda brutal, so all in all, you know, huzzah.

xoxo-D

PS: Here's a teaser:

Off to Swim Class!

Katrin's Camera

Touch-a-Truck Day

(click a pic to enlarge)

Mr. Martin Riker

Has up a smart blog post, here.

Stuff and some other stuff and then some pictures

It really does seem like language just happened to Elijah. He now says:

cracker : gach ga
truck (pretty much anything with wheels) : guch
flower : oof
kitty kat : gee gach
dirt : dih
balloon : boon
spoon : boon
cup : ka
car : ch
go outside : ow
door : do
mama : mama
dada : dada

It seems to make him so happy to be understood. Just a minute ago he looked at the cupboard and said gach-gah and we went over and got a cracker and he was mightily chuffed. He also signs. He still signs to nurse. He signs hat/head. He makes dog sounds (panting), pig sounds (almost a snort but more like a German person coughing), cat sounds (a screech), and bee sounds (zzzzzzzz). He claps when he wants you to sing (which is almost all the time, even when he's nursing). His favorite song has been the teddy bear picnic one (by a long shot). But he's also into the wheels on the bus song (urgh) and that don gato song. He clucks his tongue when he likes a song and sort of bounces a little to show approval. Boy's got rhythm. His clucks usually keep good time.

He's not walking yet, but this week he started taking steps while holding onto our fingers. Before, when we'd try, he'd just fall right to his knees (on purpose) and crawl away. He hasn't seemed too bothered about walking. He's more into kicking and talking. He likes to spas out on the mattress or in the bathtub. And in addition to speaking baby English he also is really into vocalizing all possible sounds. It's almost like a sound experiment in our house. I wish I could capture it on tape. The noises he makes are sort of unbelievable.

E was super on our trip to Colorado. He loved being at Greg and Heather's - they have two cats (two tails to catch!), and a little rubber dinosaur, and one of those cat bowls that perpetually runs a little waterfall . . . and carpeted stairs, which are basically heaven to Elijah, who climbed up and down about fifty times a day, often saying "gach gah" because he knew the crackers were upstairs. In general, the kid likes to eat, preferring, it seems, banana and avocado above all else. He also loves bread, and crackers, and pasta, and raisins. So it's basically a carbs thing with him. He also is pretty cool with tofu and scrambled eggs (he likes a little thyme in his eggs).

AWP was good, in as much as AWP is ever good (as opposed to the ways in which AWP is evil). We saw people. We bought pretty books and also a few ugly books. Mostly it was just really good to see friends and the Rockies were friendly too. Here are some pics.