Word of the day:

Toast [tohst]
noun
1) The food of the week
2) untoasted bread
3) Preferably Giant Brand Multigrain bread
4) The perfect breakfast when dipped in spaghetti sauce
5) The perfect snack to carry around
6) The perfect side to any dinner
7) All around delicious

How many definitions of “toast” can their be?  Apparently, many!  It is one of the most delicious things I’ve had lately, and I just can’t get enough of it.  Mom keeps wanting me to put my slice of bread in the “toaster” before I can call it “toast,” but I don’t like it that way!  I could eat 4 slices of toast a day if Mommy would let me!

From Mommy:
I have a proud Mommy (non-toast related) moment to tell you.   Preston just sang his first song, unassisted, in it's entirety: Are you sleeping, Daddy John.  He sang it start to finish, on key, with most of the correct sounds/words.  

Is it rain?...no

Is it bubbles?...no

It’s SNOW!

I’m having trouble figuring out what the white stuff is that’s falling from the sky.  Mom and I looked out the back window this morning and watched it fall for a while.  She kept calling it “snow.”  I don’t remember having ever seen it before!  When we got outside I realized that it was actually rain, except Mommy kept insisting that it was snow! 

Here’s how our conversation went:

Me: “Raining!”
Mommy: “No, honey, it’s called snow, see how it is white and fluffy”
Me: “Rain”
Mommy: “I know, it does look at lot like rain, but it’s a little different; it’s colder than rain.  It’s snow.”
Me: “Raining! Rain! Rain! RAIN!!!”
Mommy: “Let’s talk about something else, because that’s snow”

So then we dropped the conversation for a while until we got to daycare.  As we were getting out of the car here’s how our conversation went:

Me: “Mommy, raining”
Mommy: “Honey, we talked about this it’s SNOW”
Me: “RAINING!!”…. pause to contemplate… “Bubbles”
Mommy: *laughs* “You’re right, the snow does look like rain, and even a little bit like bubbles, but it’s still snow”
Me: “Bubblesrainingbubbles”

So I still haven’t decided that it’s actually snowing.  It’s a very confusing phenomenon, but I’m sure Mommy and I will talk about it more tonight!   

I have to back track a little bit, because I skipped a few events, and I want to share some pictures.  The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to Mema’s house for a family potluck with some of our more distant relatives.  It was nice to see everyone again, and I had a lot of fun playing outside, and playing with my new toy truck that Poppop got me!

And *finally* as promised, here a few pictures of me in the 30 year old tiger costume… only a month after Halloween!  Better late than never.  Here I am; doing what tigers do best!

From Mommy:

I have a cute story to tell!  We all went to Home Depot the other day to get some doo-dads or something (I have no idea what we were getting, something for a speaker shelf maybe).  Anyway, when we got there it apparently took me too long to get Preston out of the car, because by the time I was heading towards the store John was already inside.  No big deal, I just told Preston that we would have to go look for Daddy.  Well, as soon as we got inside Preston started calling out for “JOHN!”  I guess that’s what I do when I’m looking for John in a store, so of course that’s what Preston would do. 
Along the same lines, Preston and I love to sing the “ding ding dong” song together, you know, “Are you sleeping, Are you sleeping?”  Except, when we get to the “brother John” part, we always sing “Daddy John,” because that makes more sense.  

I have so many things to tell you all about.  I guess I’ll have to stretch it out over the next few days!  Happy Thanksgiving!!   We are home back home after a trip to Gigi and Grandpa’s house, and then to Aunt Luann’s for turkey!  They live in Ocean City, NJ, so while we were there we took a walk to the beach to see what Hurricane Sandy had done.  All of the dunes were washes further down the beach, making it very hilly.  It looked a lot different from when we were at the beach just a few months ago.   OCNJ fared pretty well in the storm, but some of the downtown businesses had flooding, so they are still recovering now.   

Read about my first thanksgiving

I haven’t felt too well the last few days.  My tummy hurts, and I still have a little bit of a cold.  It’s hard to travel when you don’t feel good.  Even so, I had fun with the family, and got to play with some of Charlie and Mikey’s old toys (they are BIG kids now – in college!!).  I took a short nap on the way to Ocean City, but then I was awake all afternoon, playing, strolling, and watching football.  When 5:00 came around and it was time to eat dinner, I was VERY tired and cranky.  Mom and I took a little break to read some stories; I fell asleep!  Lucky for Mom I slept through dinner, and she got to enjoy herself!  

My favorite activity was playing a giant box!  I could fit all the way inside with the top closed, and Mom and Uncle Joe pushed me around until to POPPED out of the top.  We also played with some giant blocks and build big towers to tip over.

At Gigi’s house I got to sleep in a HUGE big boy bed.  Mommy almost couldn’t find me!  To make sure I didn’t fall out, Mommy used a pool noodle, underneath the fitted sheet, as a “bump” on the bed that would be tough to roll over.  It must have worked, because I stayed in bed all night!  

We had THREE Thanksgivings this year.  The first one was last Saturday at Mema’s house (that’s one fo the things that I’ll have to update you about over the next few days), and the third one was the real Thanksgiving yesterday in at Aunt Luann’s.  The middle Thanksgiving was at daycare on Wednesday!  Mom and Dad both joined me and my friends for a feast!  Daddy brought stuffing, and we also had chicken, corn and carrots, rolls, and macaroni and cheese.  Yum!   It was strange to have both Mommy AND Daddy at daycare.  They arrived at the same time right when I was waking up from my nap, and I just didn’t know what to think.  I was happy to see them, but confused!  Connor’s and Sammy’s Mommies came, too, and my friend Julianna was there.  It was a really special day for me and school!  We have pictures of my friends, but Mommy wants to check with their Mommies first, before putting them on the internet.

From Mommy:
I really do have a lot of things to share with you.  I’ve been keeping a list so I wouldn’t forget!  Preston’s vocabulary is bursting lately.  He is starting to put actions together with nouns like “eggs cook” and “elmo watch”, and one of his longest phrases yet is “Mickey Mouse choo-choo train” (a request to watch the choo-choo episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on You-Tube). 

It’s also silly to try to figure out how his little mind works.  I recently got a pomegranate to enjoy, and Preston loves to eat the juicy seeds.  When he is eating them or asking for them he calls them BEANS!  
When we run out of juice, and “all gone” just doesn’t cut it for Preston, he’ll go in the fridge to see for himself that there is no more juice, except he’ll grab a bottle of tequila, and say, “This one.”  I guess it does look like juice, but it’s hard to explain to a toddler why he can’t have it.  

I think I'll go make myself a Margarita - speaking of Tequila!

Daddy is home!! He was gone for a few days in big bad Spokane Washington.  He is home now, he made it back in the snow storm, and Mommy and I are so excited!  I missed him.  We got to Skype last night at dinner time, and Daddy and I played ALL night tonight (mostly to give Mommy a bit of a break).  
I’m getting to be a much bigger boy about bedtime.  I don’t cry when Mommy says night-night, I love to snuggle under the covers, and I love to talk to Mom about my day for a few minutes.  Tonight we talked about what I want for lunch tomorrow (milk and juice), how I need to be nice to my friends at school (Mommy got a report about me pushing and not sharing today).   Then we talked about how we are both glad that Daddy is home again.  I also like to talk about Jack and Susie. 
My FAVORITE thing to do with Daddy right now is a game called “1-2-3.”  We play it on the big bed.  Daddy stands up on the bed and holds me so that I am touching the ceiling!  Then we count “1-2-3” and Daddy drops me onto a big pile of pillows!  It is SO FUN!   Mommy thinks that Daddy is encouraging naughty “bed-jumping” behavior, but I guess Daddies are allowed to indulge sometimes. 
I also love to swim around my bathtub like a fish!  The bath mat is out of the tub right now for construction purposes, so it’s extra slippery.  Mommy says it’s time for swim lessons – she should get on that.



From Mommy:
I have to admit, it’s getting harder for me to write from Preston’s perspective.  When he was just a baby it was much easier to personify him.  Now I feel like he has a special personality and that I don’t do it justice in my writing.  I’m hoping that as I continue to keep this blog he starts to actually help me with it – in his own words.  I’m going to have to start transitioning into documenting actual conversations that I have with him.  For example: our bedtime conversations, or the talks we have in the car.  The other night I had to pick up our baby sitter and Preston came along with me.  The whole way back home I was asking him about what he wanted to play with when we got home.  He immediately said “Blocks!” and then I asked him what he had for lunch and he said “cheese!”  He understands EVERYTHING that I say to him and ask him, and he has his own answers and thoughts now.  Can you see how it’s hard for me to write from his “made up” perspective?
Anyway, of course I’ll keep writing!  You just might be getting a lot more “From Mommy” than before.
So last night John was still away on business.  I picked up Preston from daycare and everything was good.  He was pleasant on the way home, told me a little bit about his day (mostly a lot of babbling about Connor and Alivia).  But when we got home and he asked for Daddy his mood almost immediately changed when I reminded him that Daddy was not home.   He was whiney and sad and having a really hard time listening to me.  He got a time-out for opening the fridge after I asked him twice (and gave him a warning) not to.  When dinner was ready he refused to eat anything –not even goldfish.  So I ate my dinner while he sat and watched me.   It was only 6 o-clock, but I decided to be the tough guy and said “ok, you’re not eating dinner, so I guess you want to go to bed.”  We went upstairs to take a bath (another struggle), put pajamas on (I guess that was my work out for the day because I broke a sweat), and finally attempt bedtime (no way that was going to happen, not to mention it wasn’t even 7 yet).  I needed a new plan.  I called John and asked him if he could Skype for a little bit, maybe Preston just needed a break from me.  So I got Daddy on the computer and Preston immediately perked up.  I explained to John how Preston didn’t eat his dinner and was giving me a hard time.  So John said (through the computer) “Preston, are you ready to be a good boy and eat your soup?”  Preston said “OK!” got down off the sofa, walked over to his chair at the table and said “Mommy, soup please.”  Are you kidding me?  Daddy says one thing and he turns into a perfect angel?  I let him watch Daddy on the computer while he ate ALL of his dinner in his chair without a single protest.  Sigh.  After his time with Daddy things were much better, and he went to sleep without a fight.

I like to ask him questions lately to sort of test the waters and see how much he retains and understand (practically everything).  Like I’ll ask him specific things like “what do you want for lunch tomorrow?”  and “What did Connor have on his shirt today?”  He’ll usually think about the question for a few seconds and then give me an appropriate response like “noodles” and “choo-choo train.”  Crazy!  I love how well he is learning to communicate.  It’s an exciting age, that’s for sure!

Yes, the title of this post is exactly the same as the one at this time last year.  We had trick-or-treat night, and then we had a big freak storm that knocked out electricity for a few days.  Last year it was a big October snowstorm... this year it was Hurricane Sandy.  Weird, huh?  Both are seemingly unseasonable occurrences, and both happened in my (very short) lifetime!
Trick-or-treat was fun!  I dressed up like a tiger, and Daddy and I visited a few houses to collect some candy.  This is an awesome concept!  Why can’t we do it every night?  In honor of the festivities mom and dad let me eat some of my candy.  I got to try this yummy thing called a “ring pop.”  It’s basically a sweet, gooey, sticky, pacifier of amazingness, and I made it last a good 20 minutes.  We had to brush my teeth really well after that, and it took me a while to go to bed.  Mom says that it was a special treat, and that there was no way I was allowed to eat candy before bed on any other night.

Then of course I spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa (I told you about that in my last post), which brings us to Monday.  It rained.  But Mom and Dad both stayed home from work.  Weird, huh?  They said it was because hurricane Sandy was coming and that everybody needed to stay safely inside until she had passed.  The hurricane didn’t really hit us until later on Monday night, after I had gone to bed.  It knocked out electricity to MILLIONS of people, and we were no exception.  I got to sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s bed on hurricane night, because Mommy was neurotic about the big oak tree falling over in the wind and crashing into my bedroom.  I love it when I am in the big bed, because I can snuggle all the way up to Mommy.  She doesn’t like it so much and is always trying to push me away to get “more space.”  Ha!  Like that will ever happen *chuckle chuckle chuckle*. 
When we woke up on Tuesday morning, work (and daycare) were cancelled again, and we still had no electricity.  Grandma and Grandpa never lost theirs in the storm, though, so Mom quickly decided that she and I would head over to their house for the day. 
The power still wasn’t back on at our house by Tuesday evening, so we decided to sleep over at Gpa&Gma’s  house.  Mom had work in the morning and daycare was open for me, but Daddy’s work was still closed on Wednesday, and today we were finally back to normal. 
Most of the schools in the area have been closed all week, including Grandma’s!  So she is going to pick me up early to go to her house for the afternoon. 
It was a really bad hurricane, and there are still many Mommy’s, Daddy’s, and kids like me with no electricity, homes that were flooded, no hot water, and no heat.  Mom says that we are blessed to have had a warm place to stay the whole time. 

Today at daycare we had our Halloween Party.  I wore another tiger costume that is 30 years old!  Grandma made it for Uncle Ted when he was my age!  Both Connor and I had costumes with tails (we compared), and my friend Alivia was dressed as Mini Mouse.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse are my new favorite characters to talk about.  Mom doesn’t know where I picked up on them, but she thinks it might have been at the grandparent’s house over the weekend.  Can they confirm? 

Mom says she’ll get pictures of me in Uncle Ted’s old costume, but maybe not until Saturday.