Chandler’s growing vocabulary

Recently Chandler has transitioned from a grunting neanderthal baby to a nattering chatter box. The other day I walked into his room to get him up after his nap, and I thought I had walked onto the set of the View.

It is so much fun to hear him come up with all sorts of new words and phrases and watch as he experiments with his new found communication skills. About a month ago he had begun asking “What’s that?” It was great for him to be able to communicate with us and ask us for more information about the world around him. But we didn’t always know what he was specifically asking about. Then he transitioned to “What is that NOISE?” or “What is that THING?”

Some of his new phrases are ones we have taught him, like, “Thank you, Mommy” or “Wrong again, Daddy.” But other ones seem to come out of nowhere. For instance, when Mommy told him it was snowing, Chandler said, “That’s exciting.” WHAAA? 

Maybe my favorite so far is “that’s funny.” We were watching a video I made (you’ll see it later) and he was laughing and then out of nowhere he said, “That’s funny.” I just about melted. He now knows I LOVE hearing him say that, and so he says it to me all the time. Does life get any better?

A lot of people like to say things like, “As soon as they can talk, they can talk back.” I really hate that mentality. I don’t know, maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, or I just like a good challenge. Since Chandler was born I’ve been teaching him how to make my life more difficult. I eagerly encouraged him to learn to crawl and walk. I showed him how to open doors. I challenged him to climb out of his crib. I showed him how to whittle shivs out of wooden train track pieces.

So what if talking could open the floodgates to back-talk? I love a good debate. But oh, wait…maybe I’ll just raise my child to be disciplined and to never talk back. (All the experienced parents know that was a joke…whether I meant for it to be or not)

Today Chandler insisted on peeing on the potty standing up.

We asked him who else pees on the potty standing up, and he said, “Grandma.” Then it got real quiet and awkward.

Anonymous asked: hey man great job. you seem to be a really good dad and that makes me happy. my friends tell me i dress like a dad and have dad hair and remind me of their dads. i'm 21. some people are just born to be dads. we are the 1%.

Thanks dude! I was about to write some silly response to this, but then it reminded me that when I was a kid I watched the Bill Cosby show a lot. I loved Bill Cosby and loved watching him be a great father. I have actually used the quote, “Come here. Here is here and there is there. Come…HERE,” on my son several times. If you don’t know that quote you aren’t watching enough Nick at Nite.

I realize now that I didn’t just admire Bill Cosby for how funny he was. I also admired him for how good of a father he was.

Cool

Chandler: Mommy, what are you doing on the phone?

Ashley: I’m making dinner reservations for Chinese for Sat night.

Chandler: Oh. That’s cool!

Grandma: Chandler, you’re cool!

Chandler: No. Papa’s cool!

Never again (except for every day from now on)

This morning I made a break from my normal routine of leaving the house at an ungodly hour and instead got to greet Chandler as he woke up. It was fun to see him, but then as I told him I had to go to work, he took my hand and said, “No Daddy, stay.”

Little jerk.

How am I supposed to leave after that? This was especially endearing because it came from the kid who usually gives me an elbow to the jugular when I lean in for a hug. 

I was pretty close to calling in sick. “Yeah…looks like I’ll be sick for the next few years. Yeah, just until my son stops being so darned cute. Thanks for understanding.”