Holy Week

This morning in the bath and right now (through a mouthful of peas), Isaiah has been repeatedly intoning, "Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory." Oh, wait. The chant just changed to, "More peas! More peas!" Gotta go.

Anachronism?

Isaiah enjoys his paper and breakfast. Did you know the deals you can get on new cars? Why do we never see such deals on trains and buses?

Spring!

Forget robins, although we saw one or two of those, we've got barbecue. Blessed with great weather all week, we fired up the grill in the park (and avoided the poison ivy this time around). Isaiah had an especially good time with Uncle Pete, who also came through later with brownies and ice cream.

Lunchables

Nothing wild about Isaiah, except his hair, on Saturday, so not long after this picture was taken in Central Park, I fed him a muffin.

Activities of note

At breakfast this morning, a certain young man in our house (no, not me) tried to shove a Cheerio in his right ear. When I called him on it, he started faking towards that ear every other bite.

Isaiah's current favorite songs to sing: ABC song and "Big Green Tractor," which he sings when he's bored in the car or sleepy.

Yesterday in New York, we walked past the subway station next to the Natural History Museum. Isaiah leaned toward it and said, "Saturday, ride the train." We have never entered the subway at that station. It has a sign that says "subway," stairs leading down, the route letter signs and the light globe. From those clues (he definitely didn't see or hear one of the trains), he knew we could get on there. Amazing.

Humor

The funniest phrase in the English language according to one 19-month-old (who happens to live with us): "That's quite a load of fish, Bilgy."

It only gets funnier if it repeat it over and over.

Endearing phrases and translations

No like it

Creamah -- what Isaiah used to say for ice cream

Get off

Hop up

Carry you -- Carry me

Get there first -- Go pick up the ball

Call my knights -- from the book Peasant Pig

Cookie and muffin -- applied generically to energy bars, cake, anything sweet

Go away -- directed sometimes at his mother when she's in the way of driving trucks on the couch

And one that Marian and I have decided to use on people who look but don't buy the apartment: A blight on your potatoes.

Spring Training

I broke out the glove on a rainy day and caught self-tosses. Isaiah wanted to try. Putting the ball in that leather thing is not as easy as it looks. By the way, did you know you could play run in circles in an elevator?

Rock and Roll!

Isaiah demonstrates what his parents will be doing in 30 years.

Mudding

On the walk home Wednesday night, Isaiah fell perfectly, landing with his face in the mud, the top of his hat in the snow and his butt in the air. I pulled him up by his coat, and he made known his desire for "Momma." By the time we got home, though, he was in fine spirits.

Sweeps Week

Isaiah took an interest in cleaning up this weekend, although I still wouldn't hand off responsibility for all those spilled Cheerios.

More Isaiah-isms

1. A few weeks ago, I picked Isaiah up after he dropped a book on his toe. Through his tears, he informed me of the type of comforting he needed by tugging on my collar and crying, "Shirt, shirt! Opum it! Opum it!"

2. Yesterday, Clare bought Isaiah not one but two bananas at Starbucks. When she returned with the second one, Isaiah reached out his hand for it and said, "I'm so happy!"

3. And this morning, Isaiah got some yogurt in his hair. I went after him with a wet hairbrush, which he (sort of) put up with until he finally squirmed out of my reach and told me, "Done! Done! I mean it!"

Sleeping

All angles and elbows and kicking feet until he falls asleep. Then he usually finds a way to be snuggled up or at least touching one of us. It pushes me toward the edge of the bed, but I haven't fallen off, yet.