Insights into the Toddler Mind

Soren's vocabulary is growing every day, and I think it's just the coolest thing. I love knowing what he's thinking about.

The funniest thing he does at the moment: he throws his arm into the air and announces "DONE!" when he feels it's time to move on to a different activity. It started as a way to tell me when he was finished eating, but now he's expanded its use to try to put an end to diaper changes, shopping trips, naps, and visits to friends' houses (sorry, AlaskanMama! Nothing personal, I'm sure!). He says "DONE!" as soon as his butt hits the changing table. Nice try.

He's in his crib right now, saying "Done. Mama. Done. Mama." However, I haven't heard any actual napping going on yet, so I'm going to ignore him. If I ignore him for five minutes or so and he still wants to get up, he'll get truly desperate and start asking for Daddy.

He's been a total wuss about going outside lately, which is bugging me because I would like to see the sun occasionally during my six-hour window of opportunity, and I can't really go for a walk without him. I bring him out anyway, trying to play up the fun and excitement of tromping around in the snow, but he's not buying it. He puts up with it for about 8.5 minutes before starting up with "House. House. Book. Lap. Book. Lap." Which, okay, is really freaking cute. My little boy is telling me that he'd rather be in the house, sitting on my lap and reading a book. I love that. It almost makes up for his bizarre distaste for sledding.

In other news, we went to a craft bazaar gift extravaganza thing last weekend and got two excellent Alaskan souvenirs: a cribbage board made out of a caribou antler, and a hammered iron fire poker with a little Dall sheep head on the top (not a real sheep head... it's also made of iron... just wanted to make that clear).

OH OH OH AND we have some real actual moose meat in the freezer! Chris managed to pick some up on his trip to Fairbanks! Plz send moose recipes kthx.