March | 2013 | Rudolph Vedder

I speak in sentences!

I ask “Doing now?” every 2 minutes, when I’m whatching mommy or daddy.
I demand “Open now” to get chocolate covered raisons out of the drawer (mommy laughs when she later finds them all in my diaper!).
I repeat “Yeah!” in approval whenever they do what I want. Daddy is teaching me to say a proper “thank you” instead of the Santa Cruz version (“sure”).
I carefully enunciate my name: “Roo-dee”
I say “Hi, Airplane!” and “Hi, Helicoptor!” and “Hi, Ocean Bird!” when looking at the sky.
I exclaim “Oh no!” when I see an owie or poo in the tub. I also say “Oh no!” when my cars are upside down. Or when I put them in the freezer.
I say “Ouch!” when I see spilled liquids. Then I run to fetch a car to drive through the puddle. But I call everything “truck,” even when it’s a car.

I say “truck” 150 times each day. I love dump trucks, semi-trucks, cement trucks, back hoes, excavators, and school buses. And best of all, tractors and fire trucks! (wee-ooo! wee-ooo! wee-ooo!) I watched our neighbor use a fork lift to take the body off a flat-bed truck (riveting!). And when we’re jogging, I clutch a wheel in each hand, and wonder what kind of truck they came off. My favorite books are “Trucks” and “Things that Go.” Mommy’s taught me to say “10-4 good buddy” when we’re driving down the road and I see a big rig.

I like bikes too… every night, I wait for mommy’s bright bike light to flash through the living room window. Daddy asks, “Who could that be?!” as if I don’t know… I yell “MOMMY!” and spin in circles when she opens the door. Then I help take off her bike shoes because I’ve mastered velcro.

My favorite night time reading is “Goodnight Guerilla,” which Daddy doesn’t get, b/c the only words in the story are “goodnight” and you have to make stuff up w/every page. Mommy makes the story different every time. Also, she reads Dr. Seuss like it’s Milton.

Mommy and I run to the ocean every weekend, and I’ve developed a special power. I can smell the ocean no matter where I am… I can point in its direction even when it’s out-0f-site.

Daycare is still great fun for me. I have lots of friends and I love to kiss and hug.

I can’t wait to go to Sweden to buy more Brio trains. I can make the train tracks on my own now! We’re going to take a fast train from Gothenburg to Stockholm… can’t wait!

I’ve been traveling a lot. I went to Washington, D.C. in February and saw the Lincoln memorial and the Capitol. But it was freezing and I really just wanted to return to the hotel to swim in the pool.

I’m a good traveler: able to nap and play quietly with my cars. When there’s someone in the seat behind me, I like to squish my face between the seats to talk to them. I bring Sophie the Giraffe and my own pillow and blanket. I tuck her in so she can recover from jet lag.

We went to Vancouver in February and I stayed at Grandma’s house so mommy and daddy could party at the Annual Hemlock Gong Show. We also stayed at Campers’ Paradise and spent the day at Mt. Baker playing in the snow. I love visiting our cozy trailer in the woods.