One more funny story...
So the other day we were playing in the back yard, and Noelle was playing "superman" with Isaac...carrying him around face down and swooping him over me.
So Isaac gets tired and says "NO!"
Noelle says "Baby down?"
"Baby down." replies Isaac.
"Down doobie-doo down down?" asks Noelle on a lark.
"Comma-comma down." says Isaac.
Proving that even toddlers understand that breaking up is hard to do.

Also, our good friend Eliza brought back some cds of french songs from her trip to gay Paris, and we have been playing them for him non stop. So the other day the cd was playing, and Isaac was quite clearly singing Frere Jaques in french. The "dormez vous, dormez vous" was incredibly cute. He also sang a line of two of "Au Clair de la Lune" a few minutes later, but was less clear about the words.

Finally, the last musical note is that his is steadily learning Twinkle Twinkle, which I sing to him periodically, but often find him singing made up baby words to the tune of "Up above the sky so bright, like a diamond in the night." so it's the first tune he has really learned on his own, he just needs to nail down the words.

Daddy is Sooooo proud. :)

Life with a Toddler.
So Friday morning, Isaac woke up and decided that he was simply not going to be wearing diapers anymore. He fought and kicked and yelled, and there was no way Noelle was going to be able to get them on him. She calls me at work and says "I guess we're going to buy undies today." Meanwhile, Isaac is in the background shouting "Go buy undies! Go buy undies!"

So they went and bought undies. And Isaac promptly peed all over the floor. So the potty training continues in earnest, made that much more complicated by a VERY strong willed VERY Vocal little boy.

For instance, while I was in England last weekend (Yes, it was lovely!), he learned two new sentances. "I don't like it" in regards to food...which is pretty much a universal statement these days except for pretzels and fruit, and "I just farted", which seems to defy all of our efforts to get him to say "Excuse me."

So now he has more and more statements. Noelle's mom was gracious enough to get us a sandbox for Isaac, so he has something to play in in the back yard, other than his little plastic inflatable pool, which neighborhood cats always stop by for a drink after a night on the prowl, and puncture. Damn them.

So we were assembling this really cool sandbox, which, I need to add did NOT come with any kind of instructions. And Isaac learned some new phrases. "Jesus Christ" in a somewhat less than reverent tone of voice. Fortunately we only heard that one once. Same goes with "Damnit". That one only came out once.

But yesterday morning, when I was trying to put on the new Huggies Pull-Up's that are our lifes toil for the next few weeks, I swear to God he said "Daddy, Stupid." Not good. We tried to tell him this was not good, but he just giggled and used his other favorite sentance "Wanna play Soccer ball."

On top of all this is the little game that Isaac and his admittedly disciplinarian father like to call: Pushing the envelope. For instance, the other day in the back yard (pre sandbox) he was picking up handfulls of dirt and throwing them.
Round 1. "Isaac, please don't throw dirt." Hi picks up another handful and throws it.
Round 2. "Isaac, do NOT throw dirt, you could get it in your eyes." He picks up another handfull and tosses it.
Round 3. "Isaac. NO." He picks up a handfull and lets it trickle through his fingers.
Daddy picks up baby and carries him off, accompanied by screaming and yelling.

So that's the life with toddler. As Marshall McLuhan once so elegantly put it. Diaper backwards is "repaid."
'Nuff said.