We were sitting at dinner tonight when we think Chanler signed for the first time. He was eating and after reaching for his food he made the gesture for "more". He seemed very pleased with himself when we immediately gave him more food.

Chanler has begun to consistently sign. Currently his only reliable sign is "more"*. More means anything and everything from I'm hungry, I want ______, and even time to nurse mommy. I know it is part of development, but it is sure confusing right now. Chanler must have said "more" 200 times today alone.

*As a side note Chanler has something of a "sign impediment" (jk) he makes the more sign with his right hand as shown in the link, but his left had flat. I have seen a variation using the flat hand and pointer finger to sign more (Thanks Fanny for confusing my kid hahaha). I guess Chanler just wanted to bring everyone together . . .

Chanler has learned some new words (and the signs that go with them) this week. Currently "down" has replaced more as the catch all word.

Chanler also now signs milk/nurse instead of pulling on my shirt. I guess my persistence finally paid off.

Chanler and I were eating lunch today (me - tuna fish sandwhich; Chanler - strawberries - 9 to be exact) when Chanler offered me a strawberry piece and said (I swear) "you want a bite?"

Language is a funny thing. I don't expect Chanler to use sentences since he still only uses a few single words consistenly, but I know what I heard.

Other sentences I think I've heard:
I see (used during peek-a-boo)
buy it (used while pointing at anything)
you go (while handing you something)

Today Chanler made his first "fashion choice." (picture to be posted)

Preface: Chanler loves socks! (and hates most other clothes).

This morning while trying to get him dressed he opened the sock drawer and started pointing (he can't actually reach into the sock drawer yet!) I picked out his usual white socks and he responded "NO" and continued to point. So I picked up the pair closest to where he was pointing (the blue, green and orange striped pair that the Silver's gave him for Christmas) and he laughed and sat down so I could put them on. Needless to say they wouldn't have been my choice to go with the Hawaiian shirt he was wearing, but he was the one wearing them =]

New Words:
Airplane/Plane
Fire truck
Apple
BYE (said in the loudest voice possible and with a wave)
Cheese
Cheers
More Please
Garbage truck
Tigger (the Disney character)

Today for the first time Chanler said Amen during grace before dinner. He then continued to say amen (and grab our hands) for the next 5 minutes. It just melted our hearts, but made it difficult to eat dinner ;)

It is a bit of a "sick" day today, Chanler has a low grade fever and is flirting with a higher fever, so we decided to have a laid back dinner of mac 'n cheese.

So we are sitting at the table saying "macaroni" to Chanler and listening to him say vaguely recognizable approximations of "macaroni" back to us, and then he holds up his fork, points to it, and says clear as day, "and cheese!"

Chanler has a friend named Sadie. We went with Sadie and her mom and sister to Target today. Anytime Sadie was out of view Chanler started calling for her. When we left to go the their house Chanler whined the whole way home for Sadie.

Can you say CRUSH

Added:
Any time I have gone into a store since the Target episode Chanler starts asking for Saide. He will also call her on his phone while driving or just playing.

Chanler amazes me everyday! He will use words that I didn't know he even knew and put together words in very clever ways.

Examples
1) On the way home from the discovery museum Chanler told us his water bottle was "empty". Never heard that before.

2) I threw out a half bananna that Chanler didn't finish as a snack. about 5 minutes later Chanler says "nanna trash". Never heard trash before that minute and to remember where I had put something (which I didn't try to let him notice I might add) minutes earlier.

3) After a nap we went down stair. Chanler wanted to play in the shoe closet - ok fine. I come back a few minutes later and he has discovered his Teva sandals. He says "shoe on please" - ok I think that is cute. So the shoes go on. As soon as the shoes are on, Chanler walks straight to the back door and says "out play sand" - OMG I have been outwitted by my 20 month old. How could I say no to such a request when he has just gotten himself ready and everything.

4) Scott is driving in a parking lot and turns down a lane where there are 2 cars stopped waiting for a third to pull out of a space. As we come to a stop Chanler pipes up from the back "beep, beep, here we come."

Back story:
Chanler went to Micah's birthday party in mid November. Being the kind on parents that we are, we started trying to get Chanler to say "happy birthday Micah" about when we got out of the car at his house.
So Saturday Chanler had another birthday party this time for Lucy. We started preping Chanler when he woke up (plus it was an early party)
In both cases Chanler didn't actually say happy birthday to the child in question!

Today:
Chanler has been saying "happy day to Micah" or "happy birthday Micah" ALL DAY LONG. Over and over and over again.
Scott and I have decided to begin preping him for Christmas by changing happy day to Micah into happy day to Jesus. So far No Dice.

Oh how I wish I always had a camera ready to take pictures of Chanler's cuteness.

Just now (while I was checking email, etc.) I heard Chanler playing with his car garage (little tykes I think - don't know for sure. we got it at a garage sale, no pun intended) Of course this newer (than the one I had) model has sounds etc. So on the top level there is a pay phone button that makes a ringing phone noise. Anyway I look over to see what is going on and Chanler is sitting with his ear up against the pay phone saying "hello, hello" while the phone rang.

TOO CUTE! If I do say so myself.

We has just arrived at Scott and Amy's for our weekly home group Bible study, erm, well, fellowship, and as I got Chanler out of his carseat, he started making grunting and unnnhhh noises, so I asked him what was wrong, and he said very proudly, "I'm heavy!"

Guess I was not making the required noises myself!

Cute things Chanler says that I want to remember

Hopper Copper = Helicopter
Me-iz = Music
Hummus = Hippopotomus (and also Hummus the dip)
Groll-a = Gorilla or Granola depending on context
Dip = anything that looks like sour cream
Smile = take my picture
Easy Buster = Don't ask me, Scott got him to start saying that
Drive Drive = I want to drive the car
Fake is = Fix it
Spicy (or mul-spicy) = any kind of vitamin
Snuggy = snuggly (from Good Night Gorilla . . ." and they all got snuggly)
I fine = Said with a grimace when any apparel goes over his head
Coffees = Said any time we go to Starbucks

I taught Chanler how to peel a mandarin orange last week. Now all I hear is "peel it; oranges?"

He is actually quite adept at peeling. I start the top for him and he can do the whole (very small) orange. It is quite cute to see how proud he is of this accomplishment.

We had lasagne for dinner, and Chanler decided to call it ahnga - too funny! How did he know there is a 'g' in there?

Ahnga? More?

Chanler has a Doodle Board which he loves to have mommy and daddy draw for him. His usual request is for a "choo train". When I am in a good mood I will draw many trains over and over. Each time I draw Chanler a train he then colors over it with the magnetic shapes making the entire screen black. It seems he doesn't appreciate my rendition of the train. Only as he completes his editing he says"night train?" He has made the train run in the dark, so it must therefore be a night train . . . hrm.

Chanler just told me his stuffed cow (beanie baby sized) - pooped

And he wanted to change its diaper and "clean" it.
He is currently laying it on the changing pad and wiping it with a kleenex.

TOO FUNNY

We were playing in the yard yesterday evening and Chanler was trying to pedal his trike, when he looked at us and said "I want a helmet." So as safety conscious parents (and since we were going out for coffees anyway) we decided to go get Chanler said helmet. I mean when your child tells you they WANT safety equipment - are you reallying going to discourage them? I think not. So now Chanler has a bike helmet (it came with the knee and elbow pads - I am not THAT freaky) and he LOVES it. He even picked it out (after we had eliminated ones that didn't fit)

The other day Chanler and I were playing with Chanler's football, and I was trying to teach him to "tackle" me. He would throw the football to me - ok he would throw the football, and I would go where he threw it - and I would pick it up and "run" (shuffle) past him, egging him to catch me. When he caught me, I would fall down on the floor, which he found very funny, and he would say "Daddy flop on the floor!!!"

Then he would take the football and then "Chanler flop on the floor!!!" as soon as I got close to him.

After a few times, he asks "Mommy flop on the floor?" to which I replied that Mommy probably not want to flop on the floor, and probably would not want to play football.

Chanler thought about that for a few seconds, then says, "Mommy play basketball?!?!"

Just a quick note about two cute things Chanler has picked up this week.

1) A few days ago he was having a very hard day. I was washing his hands and when we went to dry them he wanted to keep holding the hand towel - OK fine. Later while he still had the towel he needed a diaper change. He really didn't want to have one, but it had to be done. He was yelling about it and I asked him if it would help to yell into the towel instead of at mommy. It did seem to help. So now he has been carrying around this bathroom hand towel and calling it his blankie. He even took it to bed with him last night.

2) Chanler asks to sit on the potty sometimes (usually nothing happens and he eventually gets bored). I decided that maybe he just needed to relax and spend a few minutes longer on the potty to actually use it, so I decided to read him a book while he was sitting. We have done this now a few times. This morning I had to go potty and Chanler said he wanting to come watch - OK well I guess being a mommy means not going potty alone - shrug. Chanler then brings me a book to read while I go potty. Too funny.

Chanler is obsessed with Chris and Emily's baby - Joseph. He is obsessed in a somewhat good way - he wants to see the baby all the time, he wants to hold the baby when ever we actually see him, he talks about baby Joseph all time and even sings songs to him when we are driving in the car.

This is the first baby that Chanler has had close contact with and it is also the first time I have seen what a great big brother Chanler could become. It is very neat to see him with a small baby, he is very gentle and wants to give hugs, kisses and pats and make sure the baby is happy.

One thing that has been very interesting is talking with Chanler about nursing. Chanler knows that babies have "nursies", that "nursies" is all little babies can eat, and that they each "nursie" from their own mommy. It is neat to see him make the connection that that is how things are supposed to be. He has even articulated it when we are out, Chanler will hear a child crying and tell me - "baby sad . . . nursie mommy??" I think he is becoming empathic.

By far Chanler's favorite food has to be . . .

Hot Dogs!

We went to a Cajun fair a few weeks back and he ate 2 regular sized hot dogs!!! - no buns, just dogs. We got him one and when he finished it I figured he was done, but he said he wanted more. So we waited between 15-20 minutes to see if he really was still hungry. And apparently he was because he was still asking for another hot dog. So we got him one and he ate all of it but one tiny bite. You should have seen his belly that day!

Another night Scott and Chanler were having hot dogs for dinner and Chanler ate 2 and Scott ate 2 (and was full) (and NO we don't have hot dogs all the time)

Every time we get him a hot dog I think - "there is know way he is going to eat that whole thing" (like yesterday when he had a Costco hot dog), but then he finishes it AND wants more!

Cute things he says:
Velovader - for the car elevator in his little people garage
Ander-roo - our neighbor who Chanler originally thought was his friend Anders.
The car is getting cut - while bringing down a piece of the little people garage onto the car (great my son is going to run a chop shop at an early age!)
It's my Jamba Juice - how he knows that it is Jamba Juice astounds me - we have been there all of twice.
I getting a maget - While playing with the Doodle Board. He then reappears with a train (with a magnet on it) which will draw on the board.
Aaachoo - from the book "Bear snores one" Bear blows and he sneezes and the whole crowd freezes.
Also from that book every time the books says but the bear snored on - Chanler finishes with "snores down on the ground"

Chanler's favorite book right now is "Bear Snores On", by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Jane Chapman.

The general plot line of the book is that a bunch of small forest animals get together in bear's den and have a party, but bear does not wake up, he "snores on". Chanler has added his own creative intepretation, and in our reading, the bear snores "On the ground!" :)

The other day we were in the car driving somewhere, and I was zoning out, not really paying that much attentions to Chanler - I come to and hear him shouting/singing "I have the rubber Jesus in my car" - took me a few moments to figure out that he was singing along to the Veggie Tales' rendition of "I have the love of Jesus in my heart" :)

I was trying to get Chanler to sleep last night, and he is not having anything to do with it. He tells me quite emphatically that "Chanler don't like to sleep!"

So I am trying to convince him that it is ok to sleep - Daddy sleeps, Mommy sleeps, etc, down the list. When I get to the end of the list of just about everyone that he knows, he asks me if Jesus sleeps. I tell him that Jesus doesn't need to sleep, that while Chanler is sleeping, Jesus is watching over him to make sure that he stays safe.

So he says quite triumphantly, "Jesus don't like to sleep either!"

From Chanler of course...

When getting his diaper changed while he was playing with his train set:

Chanler: Daddy, my train is sad.
Daddy: Why?
Chanler: Because I am not near it.

And after spilling water on the couch, "Daddy, need a new couch?"

Chanler: I want water (pause) I want juice, Actually.

Every time I play Enya, Chanler comes and tells me that "mommy is singing"

Should I be flattered?

Chanler and I have recently had some very interesting conversations while driving (mostly home.)

Today: While I was trying to talk about what Chanler was going to have for lunch (to prep him for actually wanting that - this tactic seems to help); Chanler decided to be silly and said he didn't want to eat lunch he was going to "eat grass . . . [pause] noooo that's silly"; "eat tree . . . [pause] nooo that's silly." This went on for a few blocks with me mostly just listening to all the things Chanler would eat (other than lunch - grass, trees, leaves, cars, buses, anything he saw out the window). Then came the laugh out loud moment.

C: Eat the red light
J: But if you eat the red light how will I know when to stop?
C: You hang me from the light? I'll swing . . . I want to swing.
J: at this point I was laughing so hard I almost had to stop driving.

Yesterday: While on the way home from Art class, we discussed Creation (i.e. Why the sun goes down and comes up - because that is the way God made it), Morality (i.e. why we should act kindly to others even when they tried to take a toy away from us), Impulse control (i.e. why said child tried to take the toy from Chanler), Etc. My favorite conclusion by Chanler (during the creation discussion) was that God made the Sun to come up each day so people could do things - to which Chanler said . . . "Jesus said go to art class."

Sometimes you just have to say well kinda, and wonder how their brains work.

I have been waiting for the "why shoe" to drop for months now. Many of Chanler's friends have been driving their parents nuts with this one forever it seems. Well it has finally happened. The funny thing is that it crept up on me. I didn't realize he was actually doing it until Scott pointed out how many of his questions were "why" related. Of course after that insight, the number of questions in the "why spiral" has increased to the point that I think I would have noticed it on my own (especially in the last 1-2 weeks).

On the good side
1)Chanler's why questions are in the form of full sentences - so you at least know what he is asking about.
2) There are a few (very few) answers that will stop him in his tracks. These include "Because God made it that way," "Because the clock says so," and not as effectively "I don't know why."

On the bad side:
1) EVERYTHING is why right now. For example tonight we had to return a broken lamp to the store. The whys ranged from Why are we going?, Why is the lamp in the car?, Why is the lamp broken?, to Why does the lamp turn off?
2) Once a why is asked - it WILL be asked over and over and over. From above. We discussed "why the lamp is broken" at least 5 times on the short drive to the store.
3) Once a why is answered - there will be another why!
4) Chanler hasn't figured out that there are something which just are because they are. For example "why is it Wednesday" has no really good answer. It has answers, but none of them seem to satisfy him. (i.e. "because it is the day after Tuesday" leads to "why is it the day after Tuesday" which leads to ??? I don't know - social convention or a long explanation of Norse mythology)
5) Circular explanations. I can't remember my example, but I know I actually said something to Chanler along the lines of - do you see how we can never figure this out . . . we just keep going back and forth.

I know this is "just a phase" and it could be MUCH worse, but right now it is driving me up the wall! I have heard it said that Women need to use more words each day than men (in general), but lately I am running out of not only words, but the ability to listen to any more words. Poor Scott just isn't allowed to talk when he gets home :-p

Chanler's vocabulary is simply amazing (yes I am biased) and he has mastered some pretty complex words, but there are a couple of words now and again that he just has wired in wrong, and he consistently says the them the same way - eventually they just flip and he starts saying them the way that everyone else says them.

Currently we have elfluent (the pachyderm with the trunk), hosible (where the ambulances go) and murdicle cars (the open air kind). Too funny :)

Chanler and I were walking out to the mail box the other day, and he picked up a stick off the ground. He holds it up for me to see points up at the big tree nearby and says, "That tree made my stick!"

"I want to go to the restaurant where they say trebuchet"

A bit of background:
Our favorite Japanese restaurant is Miyake's in Palo Alto and Cupertino. It is great for lunch, but gets a bit crowded, loud and noisy at dinner time. Anyway when you are seated, the waiter who seats you yells something that ends with "shea," ALL the other waiters and sushi makers yell back to him again ending with shea. Over the years we have gone there, we have developed our own inside joke that they are yelling Trebuchet, because that is really what it sounds like. I am sure they are saying something is Japanese to welcome us or something, but it literally sounds like trebuchet.

I don't know where Chanler picked this up, because we don't make that joke much anymore (because it is old to us), But we were driving in Menlo Park one day talking about getting some food when out of the back some the phrase above. I was floored and a bit embarrassed. I mean if my kid knows a restaurant well enough to want to go there . . . I must be eating there too much.

At the end of his nap this afternoon Chanler said something very funny. I had started moving around in an attempt to get him to wake up, while still letting him wake himself up, because that leads to a MUCH better overall mood. Anyway, Chanler rolled onto his side, curled up and said with his eyes still closed "I'm all done sleeping*." His mother on the other hand has been know to tell you that she is awake, getting dressed even, all the while still sleeping.

*This phrase is what Chanler says anytime he wakes up - from sleeping overnight, nap time, before he is asleep at nap time, at 3 am when he wakes up, etc. It is not my favorite thing to hear!

We were in the midst of getting Jessaleigh's paper work done (full story) this morning. Chanler asked what we were doing. We tried to explain that we had to get official paperwork for Jessaleigh, just like Chanler and Mommy and Daddy have. Chanler still wanted to know why we had to go to another office. I told him we had to get one kind of paper (the birth certificate) from one office and then we had to take that paper to the second office (SSN) to get the other paper. He asked if there were going to be doctors there to check Jessaleigh, and I explained that there were just going to be bureaucrats there to help us with our paperwork. The next thing I know Chanler is talking about going to see "Beercats" I had to laugh out loud! I think things might go more smoothly in general if all bureaucrats were beercats!

Kids don't really understand home improvement projects!!!! My evidence for this - a couple of things Chanler has said over the last few days

1) During bathroom demo: "Daddy is breaking our house" said in the saddest possible tone
2) On Kitchen demo: "the men came and go bang-go, bang-go and broke our kitchen" and "why did that man take our counter"
3) On bathroom reconstruction: "Daddy built a new house?"

I hope it will start to make sense to him when things start coming together (right now everything is broken and nothing new had actually been installed)

I have regaled you all with Chanler's bouncy ball purchase already. Today Chanler and I were talking about his bouncy ball and he told me that he wanted to get another one. I asked what he was going to buy it with and he told me a quarter (mind you he doesn't have any more quarters of his own at the moment). So I asked him where he was going to get a quarter. He said "I'm going to ask Daddy to give me another quarter." This lead to a conversation about earning money, which ended when I asked Chanler what work he was going to do to earn a quarter? he told me he was going to go to "my office to work. It is very far away. I have to take the office car from Daddy to get there."

Sometimes his level of thought amazes me (OK most of the time actually)

A few weeks back, I was putting Chanler to bed, and he requested that I sing him a song from he Veggie Tales CD that he likes to listen to in the car.

I really have to say, Veggie Tales are funny and cute, but after hearing them over and over and over - it is enough to make your head spin.

So I start singing the song to him, I think it was B-I-N-G-O, and bingo was his name-o, but I had forgotten (or blocked out) who the song was supposed to go, so I am blundering through, and Chanler stops me. Then he starts to sing it more like it is supposed to be sung (for Veggie Tales anyway):

There was a gourd who had a drum, and bongo was his name-o,
B-O-N-G-O, B-O-N-G-O, B-O-N-G-O, and bongo was his name-o!

So he gets done with his rendition, and he says to me, "Daddy, I sing more better than you!" Ouch.

So then later, Jesse is driving Chanler and Jessaleigh home from somewhere, and they were listening to, what else, Veggie Tales. One of the songs comes on and tells Mommy o-so sweetly, "Mommy, these guys sing more better than Daddy!"

Hrm, I guess I should take the hint and not give up my day job...

Chanler got/borrowed a toy from his Grandmama (Jesse's Mom). It is a space shuttle with a truck that carries it (think matchbox car sized, only they are a German brand.) Anyway, Chanler loves this particular toy and likes to tell you all about his "truck that carries the space SHOVEL"

Cracks me up every time.

Now Chanler has been out to eat a Chinese places where you get a fortune cookie a few times and even lately he has gotten to eat some of the cookies.

Tonight we went out to Indian food with some friends from out of town. I was actually pleased with how much Chanler ate (not really liking spicy food) as a side note. When the check came Chanler blurts out "there's no cookies" loud enough for people at the next table to hear. He sounded so disappointed too. Made everyone laugh!

I have mentioned on Jessaleigh's Blog that one of the things she does is try to sit up (crunch) anytime she is even slightly inclined.

Today after having lunch with Scott at Cisco I got the kids buckled up in the car. I was concerned because it was close to nap time and I thought Jessaleigh might fall asleep in the car and try to not nap. Here is the conversation that took place after we had been driving for a few minutes:

Me: Chanler are Jessaleigh's eyes open?
Chanler: Yes. She is trying to sit up *giggles*
M: Yup she does that a lot.
C: Mommy, why does she has such strong muscles?
M: (trying to explain how muscles get stronger) Well, every time she uses her muscles they get a little bit stronger until they are strong enough to do what she wants . . .
C: AND, because she gets lots of nursies!!!

Nice to know my son will be supportive of breastfeeding later in life.

The other night while going to bed, Chanler told me a story:

When I grow up, I want to drive a semi truck. I will find the owners of the semi truck, and give them lots of quarters, and they will give me the semi truck. Then I will put furniture in the back and drive it a really long way. But Daddy, I want you to be the passenger so that if I get scared from all the noises coming in the window, you can help me. Then I can take the semi truck back to the owners and they will give me my quarters back. That is my story that I told to you!

During spaghetti dinner (after about an inch of parmesan cheese had already been put on his plate) Chanler says "can I have more cheeeeese pleeeese?". When our response wasn't immediate he says

"I'm the cheesemeister"

Chanler says this morning after Jessaleigh was finished being dressed
"Ooh oh, she has a spinning dress"

And really she does... He cracks me up.

Chanler also let Jessaleigh pick out his outfit this morning... quite a look, but he wouldn't pick anything else.

When I get big and strong like my Uncle David, I am going to lift up the horse over to where the zebras are so they can visit, because I am going to be bigger and stronger than you Daddy.

Chanler: "Daddy, can we listen to the instruments on the radio?"

me: "Sure Chanler, you want to listen to the classical station?"

Chanler: "Yes . . . pause . . . or you can call it KFC."

While Chanler and Jessalegih were playing "dolphin" and had our stuffed toy dolphin with them

CS: What do you want to name him? (stuffed dolphin)
JA: Dolphin
CS: Or you could name him a dolphin name. You could name him Sham-poo.