"Let's talk"

Rychen P. loves talking. How funny! He could be running, playing, whatever, but he comes and sits on my lap and says, "let's talk!" This is very convenient when I don't feel like doing anything, and extra special when we go to bed and chat like best friends for a while before falling asleep. I think it's wonderful, it gives me a chance to teach him random things (like what armor is, yesterday's topic) and to help his verbal skills.

So we've developed a few games. In order to teach letter sounds, I'd say "B says buh. What starts with B? Buh-buh-beach or ca-ca-clock?" etc. And another cute game is favorites. We learned a favorite is what you like the most. So I ask all sorts of random, "What's your favorite ____?" And his answers sure are random too! His favorite color is "probably black," (but the next time it will be different) and his favorite ball is a pink ball. We're also learning Right and Left, so I quizzed him on all his body parts: "Where is your right elbow? Where is your left knee?" How fun!! I love this stage!

Fun with scriptures

When we have family scripture reading, usually we all get our own book and Rychen P. cooperates since he gets to hold his own book. Sometimes I have to say certain oft-occuring phrases in a silly way to keep his attention, like "And now, Behold!" But lately he's been more energetic and not wanting to sit still. So we try to read with the 2 of us, but he just interrupts. So I got the idea to act out some scripture stories. We were reading Alma 47 where a wicked man uses deceit and murder to gain power. I said, "Let's get the stuffed animals! We can act this out."

"The Cunning of Amalakiah: a play by the Jones family" Starring Garfield as Amalakiah, Penguin as Lehonti, Giraffe as the Lamanite King, and several other animals as the armies.

So if you look carefully, you will see: (on the couch) Lehonti (penguin) and his army on top of the hill (couch) and then wicked Amalakiah (Garfield) leaving his armies to come persuade Lehonti to let him be in charge of his armies too, and the King is waiting back at home for Amalakiah to come murder him.

A violent play, I admit it is rated PG-13. We use hitting instead of murdering though. And we explain that Amalakiah was very greedy and wanted to be the most powerful person, so he lied and connived to get his way, and then he even killed the King so he could be the King! This is very wrong and Jesus was not happy with his choices. We do not lie or hurt people!

Chatting on the phone

Here was Rychen P. lounging on the floor while talking with Aunt Emily on the phone. Observing his nonchalant, relaxed pose, Rychen grabbed the camera .

"We are friends!"

Here's some cute thing Rychen P. has been saying lately.

When we all hang out, he has a hard time with the fact that Dad and Mom like to talk to each other. He always says, "Please talk to Bubba!" So we had to inform him, "Mom and Dad are friends! We like to talk to each other!" This concept had never occured to him. We also reassured him that he was our friend too. He's only heard the word in the context of little children coming over to play with us, so he was surprised to hear that we as family members could be friends. Now at random times during the day, he'll proudly say "We are friends!"

He also likes to point out that "We are three people," although I have no clue where he got this one from.

The funniest thing happened the other day. He was playing alone downstairs while I worked on the computer upstairs, probably 45 minutes. After that long time, I came back downstairs just as he was coming up to find me. When he saw me he said, "Oh! I DO have a Mommy!" I said "What!?" and burst out laughing. What cleverness of a 2-year-old to be sarcastic like that!

From his states puzzle, he knows where certain states are, with the association that certain family members live there. Uncle Peter lives in Texas, which on the puzzle has the icon of a Mexican-style Aztec house. We haven't done this puzzle in a while now, so I was very surprised when we were driving and saw a Mexian restaurant in the architecture of the same Aztec house. Rychen P. got very excited and exclaimed, "That's Texas! Where Uncle Peter lives!"

"Little house"

(a.k.a. fort) Classic toddler activity, but we just now thought to do it. Rychen had a ton of fun playing in his little house. We had dinner guests that evening, but decided to leave the fort up so that their son could play in it too, before we set the table.

New desk!

I've been thinking Rychen Parker needs his own desk, a "work area" that he can call his own, and a place where he can organize his much random STUFF! So I mentioned this a couple times, saying we'd have to look for one, and one day he said, "Mommy, please find me a desk." So I sat down to the computer to search Craigslist. We found this desk which was a bit more than I intended on paying, but it's bigger than I imagined, new condition, and very sturdy. It will last him (and the hand-me-down-ees) many years.

Here he is showing you the drawers, and how we organized it: first drawer is puzzles, second drawer is coloring stuff, and top drawer is miscelleneous.

And here he is writing "mail" and showing you all his mail supplies (even mailbox!) in the top drawer.

Cute anecdotes

Rychen P. is growing and learning so much! Today we bought him one of those little pre-school workbooks, like where you circle the picture that doesn't belong, connect the dots, match similar items, etc. I didn't think he'd be ready but he surprised me, and he understood a lot of it! He is learning to control a pen really well. That was fun for us to do together.

We also watched "Cast Away" today and Rychen P. sat and watched most of it. He was intrigued and asked a lot of questions (well, mostly "What he doing??") So it was an educational movie for him--I told him how if you don't have matches, you have to try to make your own fire, and he had to make his own boat using trees, and he didn't have shoes so his feet got hurt a lot, and all he could eat were coconuts and fish. Rychen P. was really interested in this new way to live.

We've been playing a lot with my friend's daughter, who is 3 years older than Rychen P. But they play together really well. They giggle and run around the house playing. They ran upstairs together and I found them in the bedroom with the lights out!! But they were just playing with a flashlight. Ha! This girl is really sweet and really good with Rychen P. I am so glad that it's working out to be friends with her. She is his first real playmate. Rychen P. is pretty popular now that he has a slide (mom gave to him for christmas). The kids love going down the slide when we have playdates.

Another cute thing is that he remembers music so well. We've been listening to Regina Spektor's CD, and there are a lot of unique catchy parts, so of course he caught on to those. Today we were at a store and the song came on the intercom, and he started singing a long with it! Then as I was making dinner I heard him singing, "so cheap and juicy!" from another one of her songs. Speaking of singers, he recognizes Courtney's voice and anytime her music is playing he says "This is a Courtney song!"

Human pretzel!

Another kodak moment..... Rychen P. found he had a special talent, and he challenged Dad to do it too!