Poop And Piss

Verbally, Gio is coming right along. He is up to at least 5 words now and making complete sentences as of yesterday. A lot of words don't come out exactly right which is typical for his age. I've noticed he has been working on the tenses of some words. Some have changed and are now correct or closer to correct. He went from signing drink to saying nut and now nuk. He had completely stopped using sign but is now signing finished along with saying it. The two words that come out like "naughty" words are poop aka scoop and piss aka kiss. He has named his favorite toy two scoops aka two poops. He likes it when I chase him around the house and give him a kiss when I catch him. So to initiate this he says "Piss me?"

The Letter Connection

Gio's memory never ceases to amaze me. He seems to remember things from before he could say them. This summer when we would go for a walk, I would point out different things. One of which was the stop sign at the end of our road. "See the red octagon sign? Were almost there." Then when we got there sometimes I would point out the letters. He could repeat each letter after me and sometimes guess when I pointed.

Then one day I don't remember where we were I think it was at Target. Ya know how they have those stop sign in between the lanes. Well anyway he says "S-P-O-P " I'm only half listening to him because I'm busy looking for vehicles. When we came out he said it again.

Well anyway I finally figured out what he was saying and would periodically ask him to spell stop. He always answered "S-P-O-P" So I tried on I think it was and it was too close to stop. The o-n was too close to o-p and it just didn't stick. So I tried "it" and he remembered. So then I tried moon and cat. One day I asked him to spell moon and coached him through it and he says "peh star" So every now and then I ask him to spell the two and a half words he knows. He knows stop, it, and that cat begins with c sometimes he remembers the a but not too often. Then he usually asks me to peh several other words. It's neat to watch him think of words. One day he came out with "peh uta woom" as he sat in the dining room and glanced into the living room. "Other room?' I thought "Wow."

He also now knows most of his alphabet. He wizs from A to K then needs some coaching from L to P then wizs from Q to Z. If I'm not quick enough he'll get to K then start again at A. One night on the drive home I listened to him sing from A to K oh about a thousand times or at least it seemed like a thousand. He was so proud of himself how could I do anything but listen.

He went through a short stage after he learned I was proud of him where he would recite the alphabet and look around to make sure everyone had clapped and commented that they were "poud" of him. Then he would ask if for example Fancy was "poud". Then he started with inanimate objects. "pable poud?" "Table proud??????"

He is also big into The Cat And The Hat books now. At the end of Hop On Pop it says "My brothers can read a little bit. Little words like if and it." One day he was looking at that page and pointed out if and it.

Bug

I remember my father used to get very upset with me because I was afraid of creepy crawlies and the like. I still have an aversion to touching them and try very hard not to pass this on to Gio. Looks like it's working. I found this red and black bug in the sink. I saw a number of them outside this fall. I persuaded it to crawl on a spatula and handed it to Gio.

Quote

"A loaded train doesn't jump the track" Bob Lonsberry said this was an old saying. He said this in reference to one of his daughters who has a very busy life. She goes to college full time has a job, either captains or co-captains a sports team and plays at least one other sport. That's what I can remember she may have had more on her plate too. He said when she got another job she had to become very disciplined and as a result got better at everything she did. He commented her grades went up.

This reminded me of a saying I had heard before "If you want something done ask a busy person."

Both my Aunt Doris and I have commented to each other we don't know where we found the time to do all the things we did when we were working.

Little Drummer Boy

Gio drumming (mummean) away in Nana's studio where she paints on glass. Another thing he likes to do in her studio is to see how many of her paint brushes he can get in a small neck bottle.

Foggy

Living up on a hill we get more fog than most. Earlier this year Gio and I went out one foggy afternoon to pick apples off our apple tree. The weather although foggy wasn't too cold or windy. We put the good apples in a white enamel pot and threw the bad ones back in the tall grass so the deer and birds could eat them. We took turns holding the flashlight as it was hunting season and although I was quite sure hunters wouldn't be anywhere near us I figured better safe than sorry. We had such fun and he still talks about it.

Green Eggs And Ham?

Well not exactly. The eggs are green. It didn't intend them to be. I fried up some red cabbage and scrambled eggs the way my friend Roossy taught me. You just move the cabbage aside leaving space and dump the eggs in. As I mixed them together when the eggs were done cooking I noticed the eggs began to turn greenish. ......Cool.

Quote

The surest way to stay a looser is to feel sorry for yourself.

-Bob Lonsberry

The Town Library

Fall 10

This harvest season has been exciting because Gio just loves looking out the windows and seeing the tractors and other equipment.

Fall 9

Sunset field

Dusk

Fall 8

Field with farm in the distance.

Fall 7

Finished for the day.

Fall 6

Fall 5

Fall 4

Fall 3

Wild Snap Dragon

Looking For Flowers

Searching...

Found one.

Look.

Fall 2

Golden Tree

Plane

This plane flew over us, circled around, flew over us again, and headed off into the wild blue yonder.

The sky just before I spotted the plane.

Flag Flown In Town

Fall 1

We have had such an amazing autumn. Whenever I can I have been out capturing the autumn beauty that is so abundant in the this area. I will be numbering them. Some will have captions others will not. Enjoy.

This is the swamp at the end of the lake taken in the late afternoon. I like the shadow that is cast over the majority of the pic from the hill that is just across the street and the reflection of the trees in the water.

Quote

"You don't have to agree all the time with what I have to say but you do have to agree all of the time with my right to say it." Glenn Beck

Quote

I was half listening to Oprah the other day, the show on her website is titled "Dr. Oz A Special Report On Death" when I heard one of her guests quote someone else. I didn't catch that person's name either but the quote was: "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

Going For A Drive

I'm sure you've heard how the song goes "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go...." Well if Gio sang it it would go something like "down the road and by the horses to Na na's house I go..." Nine times out of ten when he gets in his little car that's where he tells me he's going.

Two Are Double

The other night I noticed a car parked under the bridge to my left when I got off the expressway. A person was sitting under the bridge and appeared to be watching something in the distance. The only thing I noticed was a beautiful sunset. As I turned off the exit ramp to the right there was a beautiful double rainbow. As you can see I stopped to enjoy the view as well. The first and third pics. show the second rainbow.

The sky was a really cool color that the camera just doesn't do justice to.

To The Pumpkin Patch

We went to The Great Pumpkin Farm and had a wonderful time. They had
a display of new tractors that Gio totally enjoyed. He was sure to let me know about the triangle on this one. Here's a plane I happened to catch flying by. The pumpkin area really
wasn't a patch but I would rather choose a pumpkin here than in a field (less muddy for sure). They did a pretty good job of putting hay over the muddy areas but I did find one with the reflection of a pumpkin
buildings.







They displayed their mums on hay bales around old cars. Unique. It was very windy. Gio spotted one of the flowers that was blowing in the wind and had fun trying to catch it.







Because of the wind the rides were closed. Gio had fun looking at them any how. The ice cream stand was closed too but as soon as he saw the "ice nream noans" he ran right over and started pointing out the colors. There were animals on display too. I liked that they could be seen but had room to move and could move away from the people and into the shade if they
wished. There were several kinds of animals. rabbits, donkeys, sheep, and lamas were among them. There were many fun things to do. Some were free and some were for a small fee.

Sausage, Beans, And Escarole

Quick, easy, and Healthy. Gio likes the sausage and beans and usually ends up getting some escarole too :). Plus he just loves to say escarole.