earlier this summer...
While eating dinner one evening, Arlo suddenly starts talking really fast and says very excitedly: "the shark came out of the ocean, over the bridge, into my house, and ate my macaroni!"
October:
One morning while getting him dressed... I hadn't washed my hair in a whole week and I am pretty sure I had been sporting the same messy bun for three days straight, he tells me "your hair is so beautiful" as he reached out to touch it.
After baking banana bread with Mimmay before he took his nap, he was finally allowed to try some after dinner that evening. Even at almost three years old, Arlo still does not like sweets - muffins, cake, ice cream, candy, chocolate - he won't eat or even usually try any of them. This time he actually tried a bite and said "I like it! Thanks Memere. It's my favorite food!" I think he actually ate maybe three bites and then didn't have any interest in eating more.
Eating dinner one night, me at the table and Erik in the living room bouncing Oliver on the exercise ball. Erik and I were talking about the day and Arlo, sitting in his high chair, suddenly spreads his arms wide and says "look at this whole kitchen! look at this whole kitchen!!"
Arlo was playing with bubbles on the back deck while I was inside washing dishes (I could see him through the window.)
He comes to the door with a hint of panic in his voice: "I need a washcloth!"
me: "for what?"
Arlo: "I got bubbles in my mouth!!"
me: "ok hold on let me get one."
Arlo: "It's spicy!!"
This happens quite often these days... I ask Arlo if he will go wash his hands before a meal and if he's too busy playing or just doesn't want to he will whine and tell me "nooooo, I washed my hands this morning!" (usually this is at like 5pm.) Same applies to going to the bathroom. After getting up from his nap I sometimes ask "do you need to use the potty?" And he replies "Naw, I already went potty this morning."
Arlo pronounces Oliver's name "Ol-vi-der." One day I pronounced Olivers name like Arlo does and Arlo said "No. Don't say Ol-vi-der. Say Ol-vi-der!" So, in his mind he is pronouncing it correctly and totally picks up on me saying it differently.
November:
Arlo is obsessed with the weather.
Every time he gets his hands on my phone he says he's going to check the
weather, goes right to the app, and scrolls down to the radar to see if
there's any rain coming. He can also identify where there's rain and where there's snow. One morning I had the news on and Arlo heard the meteorologist say it was going to be 64°. He
stop drinking his milk and with a completely astonished tone said
"64°!?" like he just couldn't believe that would be the temperature.
Pronounces exclamation point "ex-cla-moosh-ion point."
When he hears something he likes he says "oh. nice!!"
When agreeing with you he often says "yeah, yeah, yeah."
Instead of "ready, set, go!" He says "ready, steady, go!" I don't correct him because really, there's nothing wrong with being steady before you go.
December:
When I asked him at the beginning of December what he wanted for Christmas his response was a confident "a pillow, a Christmas flower, and a spoon and fork." He later asked for a flashlight and when I asked him to be more specific he brought me the harbor freight catalog and showed me a 24 inch LED work bench light telling me he wanted "one just like this."
On a couple different occasions, completely out of the blue, Arlo will tell me during a meal "mom, thanks for making my favorite food." It can be something he doesn't even really love, but he just feels the need to thank me for making it.
Then there is the threenager attitide that emerges on occasion. If Erik and I are talking and Arlo is feeling ignored and wants to say something he will point at one of us (usually Erik) and say very, very seriously "NO! You stop talking. I'm talking to mom!" It's hard not to laugh when he tries to be so serious. And he never really has anything urgent to say, it's pretty clear that he just wants his voice to be heard.
Whenever he is trying to convince us to do something his face will completely light up and he will say "Come on mom. It will be fun!" It can be something simple like reading a book, or going to find out what Dad and Oliver are doing if they are in a different room. But no matter what he is convinced that it's going to be a really good time. I really love your positive outlook little man.
One day after Christmas, we were playing a new matching game he had just received. The characters were all from Disney movies and shows, and he kept asking me who the ones were that he was not familiar with. I knew the vast majority of them, but when we came to two modern looking cartoon boy characters, I had no idea who they were. I told Arlo just that and he replied "oh. well they look like troublemakers!"
I love this kid so freaking much. Since he's no longer technically a toddler, hopefully a "things my preschooler says" will soon follow. I have a feeling these posts will be fun ones to look back on.
