Grandma once showed me how to make a puppet out of a napkin.  You drape it over your hand and then move your fingers to make the napkin look like it is talking.  Now I like to do it with EVERYTHING, my blankets, towels, random pieces of paper.  Then I make them eat things like my other hand, Mommy’s fingers and nose, and sometimes my toys.  Maybe Mommy will get a picture of it one of these days, but I’m getting more elusive when the camera comes out.

I got boo-boo on my finger on Saturday.  Daddy should tell the story,  because it happened on his watch, but I’ll try my best.  I was cutting paper, and all of a sudden Daddy looked over to see a lot of blood.  I didn’t even cry, but I snipped the tip of my finger.  Daddy took me upstairs to get it all cleaned up.  He washed my finger with cold water and held a tissue on it until it stopped bleeding.  Then he put this stuff on it that made bubbles!!  That was my favorite part.  The bandaids at our house are too big for my tiny fingers, they just keep wrapping around forever and ever, so Daddy made a special band-aid out of gauze.  Then he taped it on my finger and cut the tape with scissors (weren’t they the problem in the first place).  He told me that I wasn’t allowed to pick at my bandage, so I kept holding it straight up in the air to keep it out of the way. 
I had to have a bandage on my finger for 2 days, but my cut is much better.  I went to school with a bandage on Monday, but came home without it because my boo-boo had already started to heal! 

Gigi and Grandpa came to visit on Saturday, too!  Mom was out dress shopping all day with Siobhan, so she couldn’t come with us.  We went to Roadside America, and saw a really cool miniature town with cars, trains, a circus, trees, and a lot of fun stuff!  I kept my bandage on the whole time!

From Mommy:

Preston usual comes to snuggle with us in bed in the morning, because he’s always the first one to want to get out of bed.  Lately he comes to bed with me and snuggles in under the covers.   Then he looks right at me and says “Want juice please… Ok?  Bye Mommy”  And waves at me like I’m supposed to get out of bed and go get him some juice. 
He’s also a good helper in the morning, and can usually entertain himself while we get ready for school and work.  He feeds the cats (all by himself), stand on the chair to look out the window and watch for the school bus, picks out his own clothes and shoes for the day, and heads downstairs to eat breakfast with Daddy. 
We are trying to work on letters with Preston.  He is excellent at identifying pictures of just about everything else, so we think he’ll catch on.  Yesterday he saw the work “Pig” and I asked him which letter the “P” was.  He said “PRESTON!”  Close enough! 
Then I showed him the letter “K” and he said it was a smoke-stack, and it really did look a little like a smoke stack.  So maybe letters will be more challenging for him than I thought!

On Saturday Night Mom and Dad took me to church for the Italian buffet and basket raffle.  I ran around being cute most of the time while Mom and Dad did their best to keep track of me.  And we ended up winning THREE baskets from the raffle AND a door prize.  Let’s just say that I am set for life on Crayola products, coloring books, and stickers.  But my absolute favorite part of winning the baskets is that I finally have my own pair of scissors, and I know exactly what to do with them.  I am paper cutting professional, and I sat on the floor ALL day on Sunday and cut paper. 

Lately I like to eat raisin bran for breakfast, because it has raisins in it.  So, mostly, I just eat the raisins and ask for more cereal when they are gone.  Mom and Dad make me eat the bran part, too, so this morning, after I grudgingly ate the bran, I simply asked for “more raisins.”  Mom put some raisins in my bowl and that was fine, but she forgot the milk!  So I asked for milk.  Mom pulled a cup out of the cabinet and got the milk from the fridge, and I could see where this was going.  “NO Mommy, no want it.”  She was confused, because I had just asked for milk, so I pointed at my bowl.  “Milk in bowl, Mommy.”  Duh.  So I had raisins with milk on them for the rest of my breakfast.  Perfect.  

From Mommy:

I love when I find things that entertain Preston for hours!   Scissors are amazing.  And, of course, there are rules for the scissors and Preston knows how to follow them!  He can only cut paper and he must be sitting down to do it.  No running with scissors.   He has been great and knows to drop the scissors if he wants to get up and go somewhere. 
I’ve noticed more lately that he is really trying to learn some of the songs that we sing and listen to on a daily basis, and it is adorable!  He hums and mumbles along until we get to the part of a song that he knows for example:
 “I hum hum hum on the RAILROAD… hum hum hum DAY!”  
“I hum hum hum RAILROAD!  Mumble mumble AWAY!”
“Mumble hum WHISTLE BLOWIN’ – hum hum MORN” “
“Hum hum mumble SHOUTING – mumble BLOW YOUR HORN”
“Mumble BLOW – Mumble BLOW – Mumble mumble BLOW YOUR HO –O-ORN!(That’s his favorite part)

(Can  you guess the song?)

And I catch him singing songs that I don’t know because he learns them at daycare like the clean-up song that goes something like “Clean-up, Clean-Up, Eh-ver-ee-BODY.”

He is also starting to get more specific when he talks and instead of saying “My duckies – My duckies” he says “My rubber duckies” And fuller sentences like “Daddy goes to work – be back soon!

And my favorite is that he has started adding “love you” to things like “By Mommy, Love you, be back soon.”  It melts me!

Yesterday I jumped off the sofa and bumped my head on the coffee table.  I had a HUGE bump, and Mommy had to put ice on it.  Was the bump my own fault?  YES!  But, come on, I’m two!  I don’t think about consequences; I just decide that it is super fun to jump off the sofa and go for it.  This whole incident happened while Daddy was in the room with me; ergo on Daddy’s watch.  Daddy’s watch often means: me and Daddy hanging out in roughly the same room with me doing as I please and Daddy not really paying attention.  Often, when I’m about to do something not-so-safe like jump off the sofa, Daddy will notice just in the knick of time, run into a nearby closet, change into his super-man uniform in light-speed, and warp speed back to the scene of the jump, just in time to catch me mid-air and save me from bumping my head.  That didn’t happen this time, and Daddy felt AWFUL!
Mommy, who usually handles the cuddles post traumatic situation, was MIA for the first few minutes, so Daddy had to cuddle until she showed up (which didn’t take too long because I was REALLY wailing).  And then Mommy took over the cuddles with an ice pack until I calmed down.  If the incident hadn’t happened on Daddy’s watch, that probably would have been the end.  But because Daddy gets super guilty when he feels responsible, the treats just kept on coming.  First he brought me a book of stickers so that I could choose one.  Stickers often improve not so fun situations, but that wasn’t all.  Next, a green lollipop appeared in front of me (huh, I could get used to this).  And finally, without even having to ask, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse came up on the TV.  No, not a measly little phone or laptop screen; it came up for the WHOLE family to enjoy on the big screen.
Of course I felt better after a minute of snuggling with Mommy, but I could get used to all the special treats… Are you reading this, Daddy?

Work that Booty

One night Mommy put on this fun video where some ladies were jumping around, waving their arms, bouncing on their knees, and doing other exercises.  Mommy was doing them, too, so I decided that I would join in.  My favorite things to do are jumping jacks!  I’m REALLY good at them; we do them in “little sports” at school!  After we watched the video for a little while, I realized that I was not dressed appropriately to be doing the activities with Mommy and the ladies.  Their bellies were showing and mine was not!  I kept lifting up my shirt to show Mommy my belly, and I refused to continue doing the exercises until Mommy took off my shirt.  Then my belly was showing, too, and all was well with the world.  At one point Mommy had to pick up these heavy blue toys and swing them around.  She had two of them, and would not share!  She said I could use one of my own toys, but they were not the right kind!  I got upset, and that’s when Daddy stepped in.  He said I could not exercise anymore if I was going to cry about it, so we played with other toys until Mommy was done.  It was fun while it lasted!!

The Ducky in the Sky


A few weeks ago the “Big Ducky in the Sky” came to visit me at bedtime.   He is this silly gray duck that lives on the ceiling, on the floor, in my bed, or wherever else Daddy puts him.  Daddy has to shine a light over his hand to make the ducky.  He can be BIG or small, and I like it when he visits me.  He talks to me about my day, asks me silly questions, and tries to eat my animals! 
I think it’s SO funny when he eats my animals.  First he sniffs them, to see if they will be delicious.  Then he licks them a little bit, and then he GOBBLES them up and they disappear from the floor!  If the Ducky eats too many animals he gets a belly ache.  Then he throws them up all over the floor again, which is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen!
Last night the Ducky came to visit me, and I wanted to feed him my animals.  I threw them all on the floor so he could get to them more easily… All except for Mickey Mouse; he stayed on the sofa.  I climbed into bed to watch the Ducky eat the animals, when my worst nightmare began to unfold.  Somehow, in the confusion of Ducky eating my animals one-by-one, Mickey Mouse had fallen into the pit of despair, and was NEXT on Ducky’s menu!  I said “No Ducky, Not Mickey Mouse,” but he didn’t want to listen.  I started to cry and plead for my beloved Mickey.  Just in the knick of time, Mommy scooped Mickey up from the floor and passed him safely over to me.  Phew!  The Ducky in the Sky can have any animal he wants, but he better stay far away from my Mickey Mouse!

From Mommy:

Want to know a secret?  The Ducky in the Sky is really just a hand shadow.  John gives him a silly voice and Preston thinks it’s hilarious.  He asks for the “Ducky Sky” every night now.  And the Ducky really does eat the animals.  When he “Gobbles them up” John turns out the light for a second, while I scoop the animal up from the floor and hide it behind me or under the futon.  Young minds are easy to fool!  Preston really thinks that the Ducky ate his animal.  When the Ducky gets a stomach ache and throws the animals up, John turns the light out again while I throw the animals back on the floor. 
I knew Mickey Mouse was going to cause some panic last night, and I must admit that it was no accident that he ended up on the Ducky’s plate.  Preston was very excited to throw all his animals to their fate, but was careful and meticulous about keeping Mickey out of harm’s way.   When it was time to climb in bed and watch the Ducky feast on fluff, Preston forgot to take Mickey with him.  So when the lights went out the first time, I threw Mickey into the pile to see what would happen.  Preston got very upset.  And the rest you know.  I let him have his precious Mickey Mouse.