Scoobabber and Skype

Desmond is at a really fun stage where he's doing all kinds of things that are interesting and cute to me because I know they are new. I'm not sure how fun they are for the rest of the world (minus grandparents and aunts, of course). That's why I haven't written about them much, but I'm going to try. Hopefully I'll improve in the art of toddler story-telling.

Peter worked on the basement one afternoon this weekend. We let Desmond roam around while I kept an eye on him. He was fascinated by Peter and was trying to imitate everything. If Peter used a hammer, Desmond wanted to try. If Peter blew sawdust off a drill hole, Desmond walked around blowing dust off things. He loved the real tools, which was a bit stressful. This also precipitated his first three syllable word, "scoobabber," which is screwdriver for those of you who don't speak Desmond-ese.

Desmond-ese also contains "tao" as telephone, "up" as down, "up" as up, "fuk" a fork. Very cute.

Peter likes to build block towers and Desmond likes to knock them down. A good symbiotic relationship.

He has an obsession for keys and telephones. It now extends to toothbrushing. We let him stand on the rug in our bathroom and "brush his teeth" with an adult toothbrush while we brush ours. Some of his worst meltdowns come when it's time to put the toothbrush away. He must be my child, as I'm a bit obsessed with clean teeth.

I'm grateful for that reassurance because he's also figured out how to put a lid on his sippy cup. I am severely lid-impaired; it's almost embarrassing. Maybe he didn't inherit all of my faults.

I must vacuum and sweep a lot, because he also loves the broom and vacuum cleaner. When I'm vacuuming he wedges himself between me and the vacuum and insists on helping. When I sweep the kitchen, he squats over the pile of dirt and says, "Dirty, dirty, dirty." I know he will eventually be embarrassed to do what his mom does, but for now, I'm grateful.

I have to harness this willingness while it lasts!

The only TV he really watches is Duke basketball games. When a game is on in the afternoon, we sometimes watch it as a family. Desmond now has the right inflection of "Let's Go Duke" and can say "Duke." It's really cute when he says it to himself while trying to fall asleep. (I've tried to get it on video. He refuses to say it while I'm filming, but babbles away after I turn off the camera.) Unfortunately, he's still very impressionable. Uncle Chris had Des saying "Terp" with only 10 minutes of coaching.

As with basement work, Desmond also tried to imitate Peter juggling limes. Have I used "cute" enough yet in this post?

We Skype a lot with family. Since learning how to climb into chairs, Des will climb into the computer chair, say, "Skype, Skype" and sing the Skype connection tune. It's interesting to think about what types of connections kids will make to understand new technology.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'll dole out the stories at a more even pace in the future!