M! W!

Bino delights in reorienting letters and numbers to make other letters and numbers-- L and 7, b, d, p, and q, 6 and 9, A and V, M and W.   

Swedish ABCs

Pedro and I used to joke that Bino sang his rendition of the ABC song in Swedish.  I was lucky enough to catch a bar or two of it while he was playing with his alphabet letters in the bath at Mimi and Tata's.   In the past few days, though, he has actually begun singing the song in recognizable English.  When Pedro and I try to encourage the "Oohde ehde ehde boo" version now, he says "Noooooo," and corrects us.  He's growing up fast.

Making cookies

To Bino's delight, cookies were a nearly constant presence during our time at Mimi and Tata's.  During one of our last days at the grand- parents, Daniel and Mimi actually made some together. Bino took his task of applying the sprinkles very seriously.  While the cookies baked, he pretended to let Tata have a taste of one of his other concoctions.  You'd think, from the last photo, that he didn't enjoy the final product.   Actually, he's just concerned about getting his hands dirty. 

Earning his keep

Bino took it upon himself to take out the garbage for most of the time we were in Lexington.  As soon as the bag hit the floor, he was dragging it to the door and then on outside.   I'll be pretty excited if I can convince him to help with the house cleaning now that we're home. 

Big boy Bino

Bino climbed up into Tata's big chair all by himself, and as you can tell by his expression, he was very proud of himself.   He has inherited the expression you see in the second photo from his Papa, who also purses his lips to hold in a smile when he's being mischievous.  (This is also Papa's dancing face.)

At the mall

Since the summer heat made running about outside a bit uncomfort-able, we made several trips to what Bino dubbed the "baby park" at the mall, where he had lots of F-U-N, as you can see. Most times these trips also involved c-o-o-k-i-e-s with Tata.

In addition to getting a lot of exercise and practicing his social skills with other kids, Bino showed off his reading skills (with the block letters--at this point, he can recognize and name both capitals and lower-case of just about every letter!) and learned about colors. (He used to call almost every color "purple," but here he is pointing and naming them using the M&Ms on his cookie. He can now recognize and name blue, orange, red, white, black, green, and yellow.)

How hot it was

Sunday afternoon was hot.  So hot that Tata eventually decided he'd have to climb into the pool with Bino, fully clothed.   Mimi says there are photos of him doing this with my brother and me when we were kids, too.

Bino has really been Tata's boy during our time here.   They watch car shows together, admire Tata's mustang together, listen to Johnny Cash together, take out the trash together, and pester Mimi together.   

Tata has also taught Binio how to say "Yee ha!" and Bino has taken to using it as a special greeting or signal for attention:  "Tata yee ha!"   I wish you could see the mischievous expression on his face when he does this.

Dribbling

Papa will be happy to see that Bino is keeping up his futbol practice while he's away.

Dance partner

If you keep up with this blog, you've probably seen Bino dancing solo before. Now watch what he can do with a partner. Kathy will recognize the obnoxious Elmo guitar (which can provide hours of enjoyment at Mimi's), and if Guy searches his memory, he might recognize Tigger, who was by this point too exhausted to keep up.   

The exuberance with which Bino dances cannot be learned or bottled.   I can't decide who feels more joy -- him dancing, or me watching him.

Shakin' things up at Shakertown

Last weekend, when Pedro was still here, we all went up to Shaker village for an afternoon.   There's a lot of wide open space there, and Bino enjoyed running around uninhibited and playing with his cars on the wooden benches and stairs.   He also loved the rocking chairs.

What happens at Mimi's

Bino and I have been at Mimi and Tata's for the past week while Pedro has been pursuing his work-related travels in Madison and now Bogota.   While we miss Papa, Bino has been having a great time here blowing bubbles, visiting the aquarium, playing in the yard and pool, and getting into all kinds of trouble.  Mimi found the t-shirt somewhere during her and Tata's anniversary trip to Florida, and it seems very appropriate Bino would be wearing it for the second photo.    He not only got Mimi's shoes on all by himself, but he was able to toddle around in them for a pretty good distance.  The hat placement is his own, too.   He looks very stylish, don't you think?