As of Late...

For some reason, I've been having a really hard time uploading videos and images lately. Here is some of what Marley has been up to.

Helping in the Garden

Helping at the 5th Grade Car Wash

Playing at the Beach

Our Little Yes Man

Dancing to his Favorite Tunes

Word Up

Me: Look Mars, a doggie!
Marley: Daw-daw!
Me: Yes, a doggie!
Marley: Daw-daw!
Me: That's right, daw-GIE.
Marley: Daw-daw!
Me: Say, "gie"
Marley: Gie
Me: Good! Daw-GIE.
Marley: Daw (pause, pause, pause) daw.

Alas, even with his less than perfect pronunciations, Marley's language skills are exploding! I will now attempt to list all the words that Mars can say, or sign, and uses regularly on his own without prompting.

People: Mama, Dada, Jada, Nai Nai, Grandma (Ba-ma), Grandpa (Ba-pa)

Animals/animal sounds: Bird (sign), Doggie, Moo, Baa, Roar, Meow

Food: Milk (sign), Water (sign), Banana (sign), Cracker (sign), Cereal (sign), Eat (signs and recently says), Dinner (Ninner), Juice, Ice, Strawberry (Fraw-fraw), Cookie (Ki-cky), Cheese

Exclamations: Whee! Cool! Wow! Yeah! Ahh! Phew! Yuck! Uh-Oh! (Uh-ah)

Other: Cold (sign), Again (sign), More (sign), Socks (sign), Shoes (sign), Music (sign), Help (sign), Rain (sign), Poo poo (signs and says), Pee pee, Hot, Bye, Hi, Pretty (Pee-pee), Baby (Bee-bee), Boobie (Bee-bee), Bath (Ba!), Bus (Buh!), Up, Down (Nown), Let's go! (Hmm hmm!), Teeth, Light (ight), Bubbles (buh-buh).

I'm sure I've forgotten some. Check back this week and I'll add any I may have left out.

Marley can read!

David Shannon is the author and illustrator of some of my favorite children's books: Duck on a Bike, A Bad Case of the Stripes, and Good Boy Fergus. Encounter, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Shannon, is one of my all-time favorites. It's the story of the first meeting between Christopher Columbus and the indigenous people of San Salvador as seen through the eyes of a young native boy. (No, it's not what Marley can read.) I read it to my class every year - the illustrations are beautiful. Which is why I think Shannon's David! books are so strange. The illustrations are almost scary. I guess the childlike drawings are supposed to appeal to little kids. Well, I don't get it, but it works. Mars absolutely loves the David! board books!

The book reads, "David's first words were: Ball, Uh-Oh! Dog, Oops! Ride, Whee! Eat, Yum! Bath, Ahh! Mama, Zzzzz..." What sounds like "dada" is actually "doggie". This was not their first time through the book in this sitting and, as you can see, Mars was really excited for his favorite page!

Success!

We had a great day yesterday! We woke up bright and early to get ready for our walk. Nai Nai, Dustin, and Cecily met us at our house, and after chatting for a bit over coffee, we headed to Qwest Field.
It was a beautiful morning. The stadium was bustling with families. We met baby Annie and Kristie (who walked with us despite the fact that it was her 30th birthday!) at Qwest Field. Mars had a great time running around. In fact, I think he was a bit upset that we put him in the stroller and didn't let him walk the 3.5 miles. It was so inspiring to hear all the amazing stories and to see all the incredible kids! Thanks to everyone's generous donations, we were able to raise $415! Yay for babies! Visit Cecily's blog to see more photo's from our walk.
After that exciting morning, Marley crashed hard when we got home. He slept for over 3 hours, during which time I was able to get ALL my papers graded and do some cleaning! Since it was still such a nice day, we decided to go picnic at Lincoln Park. Marley was ecstatic running around on the rocky beach! What a great day!