Just a note: The blog was hacked this week.  Not cool.  My husband and our hosting service have got most things back to normal, but there are still a few kinks to work out.  Please be patient during this process and if you notice anything weird (other than that title in the wrong place in the header above) please let us know.  Thank you and down with internet scum!!!

Now where was I?

Oh yeah, Porter turned 34 months old on Wednesday which means we are just a mere two months away from his third birthday!

What Porter is Wearing:

• Slowly growing out of his 2T shirts.  He needs more 3T shirts STAT.
• Even though he is 34 months, his 24 month pants still fit well.  He wears one pair of pants that are 2T.
• He wears 2T pajamas right now, but he’ll be out of those in about two months.
• Still in size 5 diapers (more on our potty progress later.)
• Just about to bust out of his size 7 shoes.

What Porter is Eating:

• We have entered the “This is your dinner: take it or leave it” phase of parenthood.  We use to give him dinner and then if he refused it we may give him something else later.  I use to worry that he wasn’t eating enough or thought that he would wake up hungry.  I’m passed that now.  He needs to be eating what we are eating.  His pickiness is getting ridiculous.
• He is now refusing to eat chicken and beef.  He pretty much won’t eat any meat that isn’t deli meat, hot dogs or bacon–all of which is loaded with junk.
• Still refuses to eat pizza or macaroni and cheese.  When he was offered a piece of pepperoni pizza recently he said, “Pizza is yucky to me.”
• However, he will gladly eat lettuce of all kinds, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, celery and lots and lots of fruit…
• …except blueberries.  He ate them when he thought they were grapes, but we let it slip that they were something different and now he removes them from his plate.
• He will only eat potatoes in fry or tot form.  This has always been the case.
• Porter now enjoys sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
• He and I both loveChobani Greek yogurt.  
• We also have been sharing bowls of popcorn lately.  Porter finds the popped kernels really fun to look at (and then eat.)

What Porter is Saying:

• Porter seems to have reached the non-stop-talking part of toddlerhood.  This is fascinating to me since I am a fairly quiet person.  He is saying all sorts of funny stuff these days–mostly because his imagination is going full-tilt.
• Porter has started referring to me and Aaron as “you guys.”  Pittsburgh hasn’t taken a hold of him yet since he isn’t calling us “yinz.”
• He likes to call things “cute” or “pretty.”
• He asks us for privacy during diaper changes if both parents are present.  All thanks to this book.
• After he has gone to bed, but has yet to fall asleep he likes to open his bedroom door to tell us things, such as “Mommy, kangaroo is sleeping.”
• Sometimes he will come to the bathroom door while I am in there.  He’ll knock and say, “Mommy, you in there?”  I will respond with yes. “Can I come in?”  I will ask him if he needs to or wants to try to use the potty.  He replies, “No, I just want to watch you.”  Great…
• Everyone is his “best friend” lately.  Even his toys.  ”This is my best friend Toby, the steam tram.”
• Restaurants are now referred to specifically as “food restaurants.”  Not sure why the change…

What Porter Likes These Days:

• “Cooking” in his kitchen
• Books
• Puzzles
• Pretending
• Dancing
• Singing
• Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood

What Porter Doesn’t Like These Days:

• Using the potty at home.

What Porter is Doing:

• Porter is creating long and involved imagined scenarios.  It is fascinating to witness–both by eyes and by ears!  I think I am going to write a post just about his imaginings.
• He is “reading” (and by reading I mean reciting word for word) books to us and to his stuffed animals.
• There has been lots of spontaneous dancing lately.
• Singing the theme song toMister Roger’s Neighborhood.

It started last summer.

We were in the car driving through the city, heading home after dropping off a friend at the bus station.  Porter was babbling in the back seat.  Aaron and I were having a conversation up front.  We stopped at a red light.   That’s when I heard it.

“My money. My choice.”

I stopped mid-sentence.  ”What?  What did he say?” I asked.  Aaron shrugged.

I turned around to Porter.  ”What was that, buddy?”

He pointed to the Meineke sign on the corner.  ”Meineke.  My money.  My choice!”  Porter said, excitedly.

We were stunned!  How could he have learned that?!  Porter’s television habits consist of PBS…and then PBS shows on Netflix.

But some days later he started singing this one particular Queen song and that’s when we figured out what was up:  Porter was memorizing all of the commercials from The Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy! hour of television that we watch after dinner!  That Queen song was featured in a local furniture store ad.  Even though this started this summer, his little brain has not stopped absorbing all sorts of consumer information.

On New Year’s Eve I was upstairs getting ready to head to our friends’ place.  Porter yelled a series of numbers up to me.  It sounded familiar.  Why?  Because it was a 1-800 phone number for an injury lawyer!  I had seen the commercial before–and apparently, so had Porter.

But it doesn’t stop at jingles or mottos or phone numbers; Porter can also identify logos.  He knows the logo for Home Depot, Giant Eagle, GetGo,  and Taco Bell (and he has never even been IN a Taco Bell) to name a few.  However, he does know the logos for more child-friendly things like Sesame Street and Thomas and Friends.  Those are more appropriate, but yet the whole thing is still unsettling.

I am amazed at Porter’s ability to identify these things.  I am also terrified.  We are exposed to so much advertising.  I know that I am numb to a lot of it (at least, I hope I am?)  But our kids are just sucking this stuff up.  Although we can limit some of the media our kids are exposed too, there is no way that we can really block it all out.  We just have to make sure our children aren’t consumed by consumerism.

I’ll just keep at that and if I happen to need an injury lawyer, I’ll ask Porter who he recommends.

Can you believe that I haven’t done a monthly update since OCTOBER?!?  With my crazy work schedule, the holidays and then my grandfather’s passing I just let months slip by.  I have so much to tell you about!

P delivers a spirited rendition of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on Christmas Eve

What Porter is wearing:

• Size 2T shirts, but with a few 24 month shirts still in the mix.
• Mostly size 24 month pants with a few 2T pairs creeping in.
• Still in size 5 diapers.
• Would be in size 2T underwear if he let us put them on him

What Porter is eating:

• He is on a huge vegetable kick right now.  As always, raw vegetables ONLY.  I just can’t believe that a toddler can enjoy salad so much.
• Chicken use to be his favorite, but now it is hit or miss.
• His “on again/off again” relationship with wheat toast with peanut butter is back “on.”
• He still refuses typical toddler favorites such as pizza and macaroni and cheese.
• Spaghetti and meatballs use to be our “go to” food since we knew he loved it.  We were eating it once a week.  Now?  He could take it or leave it.  Depends on his mood.
• He likes olives now.  Green only, please.

What Porter is Saying:

• A lot.  So much, in fact, that a whole post is in the works solely devoted to what he says on a daily basis.

What Porter Likes These Days:

• Cuddling under “cozy blankets.”
• Books books books.
• Thomas Thomas Thomas.
• Timmy Time
• Puzzles!

What Porter Doesn’t Like These Days:

• Wearing his winter hat.  He’d rather wear his hood on his coat.
• Using the potty at home.

What Porter is Doing:

• Imagining.  In the last three months, his imagination has blossomed.  It is just amazing to watch him play and to play with him.  He likes to hide from “monsters” by sitting on his bed with the covers pulled over him.  He isn’t scared of the “monsters” or anything, he just thinks it is fun to hide from them!
• Having a “party”–which means he turns the overhead light on in his room and spins in a circle until he falls down laughing.
• Having a “kangaroo party.”  Same definition as above with the addition of him throwing his stuffed toy rabbit named Kangaroo up in the air.
• Cooking in his play kitchen that Santa brought him.  He only serves water and hot dogs at the moment.  And he keeps his eggs in the dishwasher.
• Playing trains!  Never gets old.
• “Reading” books.
• Hopping around on all fours pretending to be a frog.
• Running.  Always running…
• He can recognize his name and some words–like zoo and school.
• He likes to refer to himself by using his full name–first, middle, last.
• And…HE IS USING THE POTTY AT DAYCARE!!!  Not all day, but one time most days–sometimes more!

Saturday Porter officially turned two and a half years old.  Aaron and I had the following exchange while out to dinner that night.

Me: Can you believe that he is two and a half already?!  We’re halfway to three!

Aaron: We’re half way to five!

Me: jaw hits floor

And scene.

What Porter is Wearing:

• Finally graduated to size 5 diapers!
• Finally has officially outgrown the remaining pairs of 18 month size pants!
• A few 24 month and 2T shirts are getting a little small, but it really depends on the brand.

• He actually ate cantaloupe this month!
• Still completely uninterested in typical toddler favorites like pizza and macaroni and cheese.
• Still loves his tacos and guacamole.

With each passing month, our baby is evolving into a little boy.

What Porter is Wearing:

• Still in size 4 diapers.
• Just graduated to size 7 sneakers.
• Shirts range from size 24 months through 3T (depends on the brand.)
• Size 24 months in pants.
• His size 24 months hoodies still fit, but he’ll probably outgrow them before we get to winter.

At just about 28 months, Porter talks all of the time.  He is a sponge these days, soaking up all sorts of words and phrases–some of which he definitely didn’t learn from us.

Beautiful:  I opened the fridge the other morning to pour Porter some milk.  I pulled out the plastic jug of milk and upon seeing it Porter said, “It’s BEAUTIFUL!”  Earlier this week we went to Lowe’s to pick up a few things.  I was pushing Porter in the cart when he spotted a large sign hanging from the ceiling.  ”Wow!  It’s beautiful!  Number one on it!”  Yes, there was a giant number one on the sign.  My son has an interesting idea of what is beautiful…

Taco Bell:  While we were visiting Ohio, we passed a Taco Bell.  We were looking for a place to eat and Aaron’s dad just happened to mention it.  Now Porter brings it up at least once a day.  ”Meemaw an’ Papaw go Taco Bell?”  ”Truck going to Meemaw Papaw’s house an’ Taco Bell.”  And Porter hasn’t even ever been to a Taco Bell!

Nuh uh, Nope:  We don’t say “nuh uh” in this house so we aren’t really sure where he learned this, daycare I guess.  And I write “nope” far more than I ever say it, so…

Butt:  Speaking of daycare, we think he learned this there too.  We always use the words “bum” and “bottom” to refer to that area, so when he started calling it his butt we were a little surprised.  Just hoping it doesn’t lead to “butthead” anytime soon.

Delicious:  Porter has been saying this for months, but it is still hilarious.  This afternoon he was singing, “Dee-dee-dee-delicious!”  Well, it’s more like “dee-lithious!”

Stop the train:  P loves trains; Dinosaur Train and Thomas and Friends are a big deal around these parts.  Although we watch those programs quite a bit, I have no memory of any character ever saying, “Stop the train!”  The other day Porter came running from his room, through the kitchen, the dining room and into the living room yelling, “STOP THE TRAIN!  STOP THE TRAIN!  STOP THE TRAIN!”

How ’bout you:  Are you a parent with a child who is turning out some memorable phrases right now?

Sometimes I think about what Porter will remember from our life in Florida.  He was so young when we left and I know that what he remembers, if anything, will fade soon fade from his brain.  It makes me sad that he’ll never really remember the nursery we worked so hard to make for him.  He’ll never remember how he loved to crawl from the family room, through the kitchen, into the living room and through the hallway back to the family room again.

Man, I loved that house.

Sometimes I will ask him if he remembers various things in or around our house in Florida or if he remembers going to daycare at Jessie’s house…he usually says no.

Sad.

However there are a few things that he does remember, but they are little things.  Back in Tallahassee, Porter sort of had a bathroom all to himself.  It was right off of his bedroom and he had a bath there every night.  To protect his little noggin, we bought an inflatable tub spout protector so if he did ever bump his head on the faucet there would be a cushion.  When we moved here to Pittsburgh we discovered the spout on the tub here was from the early 1970s and the cover didn’t fit, so the cover just went into the linen closet to hide away among P’s bath toys.  Porter recently found this and actually tried to put it on the spout in the bath tub himself!  How did he know that this was the proper home for this inflatable thing with frogs on it?!  Obviously, he must remember.

Yesterday while at the library, he spotted a display case full of various Mickey Mouse and Disney paraphernalia.  He pointed out and named Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.  And then he started singing the theme song to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Here’s the thing:  We don’t have cable here in PA and in FL we didn’t watch the Disney Channel.  However, he use to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at daycare in Florida so he must remember it from there!

I wish I could crawl into that little brain of his just to see what other little bits of Tallahassee are hiding in there…

So, I told myself after Porter turned two that I would give up on the monthly updates.  The truth is that I just can’t.  I like it too much.  Here is the 25 month update–a few weeks late.

What Porter is Wearing:

• Still in size 4 diapers.
• 2T shirts.
• 18-24 months in pants and shorts.
• Size 6 shoes, but size 5 in sandals.

What Porter is Eating:

• Celery!  Carrots!  Strawberries!
• He still would eat oranges all day everyday if we let him.
• It is still hit or miss with any meat other than chicken.  And bacon.  He actually request bacon out of the blue in the middle of the day.  And we actually only have bacon once in a while as a treat.  He just LOVES it.
• Utensil usage is still very much hit or miss.  He gets really frustrated with it sometimes so then he doesn’t even want to try.
• We cannot get this kid to use a straw.  He just can’t figure it out, poor thing.
• We need new breakfast ideas–anyone want to share?

What Porter is Saying:

He is still a vocabulary building machine…

• He is learning people’s names and remembering them.
• He has a good grasp of adding ” ‘s” to the end of the word to indicate possession.
• He now is adding “es” to the end of words to indicate more than one.  Sometimes he does it when it isn’t necessary, like calling more than one sheep, sheepes–which, though incorrect, is really cute.
• Speaking in sentences more and more.
• Instead of saying, “Where is he?”  he will say, “Where he is?”  This is new.  He has been saying “Where are you?” for months–but this “where is he/where he is?” thing is different.
• “What are you doing here?”
• “That way!  That way!  That WAAAAAY!”
• “Green means go!”

What Porter Likes These Days:

• Veggie Tales.  Since Porter has been spending more time with Aaron these days, Aaron–who is much more familiar with Veggie Tales than I am for some reason–has put this on for Porter.  Porter loves it and now requests it.  This is new–only has happened in the last few days.
• The playground.
• The backyard.
• Going to people’s houses.  Steffi’s house.  Stefani’s house.  Maria’s house.  Kevin’s house–and he has never been to Kevin’s house, he has just decided that Kevin is a cool guy and wants to go to his house.  Apparently he is totally bored with our house.
• Coloring.
• Playing the “drums”–using the cans of paint currently residing on our dining room floor as bongos. (I’m painting the living room and dining room in July and couldn’t pass up some recent paint sales.)

What Porter Doesn’t Like These Days:

• Hard to tell.  It could be anything and everything and then he immediately changes his mind.  He is definitely in his Terrible Twos.
• He doesn’t want anything to do with the potty–and will loudly tell you so.

What Porter is Doing:

• Counting to 8!
• Knows the alphabet, but still won’t sing the song.
• He will, however, sing A LOT after we put him to bed.
• Trying new foods.  He will try vegetables, he just doesn’t like most of them.  But we praise him for trying.
• Calling for the cats and occasionally scolding the cats when they are doing something wrong.  To our cat, Neko: “Keeko, get down there!  Too high!” –when Neko is up on the entertainment center (a no-no.)
• He will request to talk to Aaron’s parents, Mamaw and Papaw, on Skype.
• Whining.  He has days during which all he does is whine.  Not everyday, mind you, but lately we seem to be having more and more days like this.

What Porter Isn’t Doing:

• Consistently using utensils.
• Sitting on the potty.
• Using “please” when he wants something.  It has been replaced an urgent demand instead.  He use to say please all of the time, but now–not so much.
• Staying in bed at nap time.

What We Are Working On:

• Patience.  For all of us.  On all fronts.  Porter has become increasingly impatient.  When he is impatient the whining level sky-rockets.
• Utensil usage.
• Getting Porter to sit on the potty.

In the past month, Porter has become much more dramatic, impatient and demanding.  However, he has also shown us how much he is learning and how silly he can be.  I will be working a lot in the next three weeks, so I won’t be spending a lot of time with him.  I am wondering how he will change and what he will learn in just a few short weeks.

I found a small red spiraled notebook at Dollar General completely by chance.  The size was perfect and the spiral was red, however it was the wrong shape.  It was in the shape of a short, squat pencil.  With an Exacto knife, an aluminum cork-backed ruler and a cutting mat, I carefully sliced through the cover, back and all of the pages of the notebook until it was rectanglish (yep, I just made that word up.)  It took some time, but it was easy.

Then using construction paper I cut out a black rectangle and a smaller green rectangle.  I glued the black paper onto the cover of the notebook with plain ol’ white glue.  I let that dry completely.  Then I glued on the green paper, eyeballing it to center.  Then I drew out a “Thinking Chair” shape with a pencil on red paper.  Using a black Sharpie, I drew in the chair details.  I didn’t go from a photo, just from memory, so it isn’t perfect but I was happy with it.  I glued that on the cover too.  For a little something special, I wrote Porter’s name on the front with a yellow water-based Sharpie.

It is by no means a perfect replica, but Porter LOVED it.  Every page in the notebook is filled with “clues” now!

Tickety Tock is by far Porter’s favorite Blue’s Clues character.  If Porter is coloring and you ask him what he is drawing, he always says Tickety Tock.  He loves Tickety Tock so it was pretty important that Tickety be at the party.

I made Tickety’s body (?) out of a paperboard circular box with lid from Michaels.  First I made Tickety’s bells.  This was the biggest challenge of the whole crafting project for me.  I bought some small circular sponges and then covered them in Crayola Model Magic and molded them into the bell shape.  The sponge inside helped to keep it light.  I didn’t want the bells to be too heavy causing Tickety to constantly roll or fall over.  I did this days in advance so they would be very dry by the time I needed to attach them to the rest of the clock.  I primed and painted the box and lid separately, then I glued on the lid of the box.  I would have made the hands on the clock movable if I had more time, but due to Porter and I being sick I lost time.  After I glued the lid to the box, I hot glued the bells to the clock and gave Tickety little feet made out of Model Magic that I hot glued on also.

I was literally up making Tickety Tock at like 11pm the night before the party.  My dad had arrived about five hours earlier than scheduled that Friday and it TOTALLY threw my whole gameplan off.  If I wasn’t so tired and was thinking correctly I would have done some things differently, because halfway through the party Tickety looked like this:

Bell-less.

By the end of the night, the clock was completely in pieces–lid off and everything.  Tickety needed a rebuild during which I used ample amounts of hot glue to ensure that she’d last a little longer.  After I did that, Porter started taking Tickety out on the town with us.

This is Porter asleep on Tickety as we drove to pick up Aaron from work on Friday:

Total cost: About $10

Total time: About five hours, not including dry time–but including gluing everything back together.

Totally worth it.