Donuthole, dance, milk, repeat.

A pre-daycare treat with Dada.

Brookie Cookie

We got to have Brooke over for the afternoon. Marco talks about going to Brookie's house or having Brookie over all the time so he was very happy. In fact, today he told me "I want to tickle Brookie." Uh... okay.

Jeff and the kids made cookies. It was a series of "MY SPOON!" "NO, MY SPOON!" "No, no Brookie, my step!!" "No Marco, my cup!" You'd think they didn't spend all day together sharing.

In a move that echoed my mother, I said, "if you can't share, I'm going to take them away." Ha.

Breakdowns followed. In a low parenting moment, I photographed it. Awesome pics. I'm sure these pics will solidify our future in D'Angelo babysitting. Call the Cecchins for babysitting!

I go up. I go down. I ride horsies!

We visited Tilden Park's Christmas Fantasy Carousel. Marco loves the carousel. Santa was there too and Marco walked right up to him. I'm pretty sure if I could read his mind it would go something like this: "What you doing Santa? You don't remember me? I'm Marco John Cecchin from earlier at SI? We high fived? You're friends with my Papa? Nothing?"

Ho Ho Ho

SI hosted a Santa event again for children and grandchildren of staff and faculty. Marco has been talking about Santa a lot lately, so we're really looking forward to Christmas. But, we were prrrrretty sure he was going to be petrified.

As it turns out, Marco LOVED Santa. Papa got a round of "Here Comes Santa Claus" going and he appeared. Marco couldn't take his eyes off of him. We he started calling names to give presents, Marco dragged Jeff up to the front to get a closer view. He was enamored.

One by one, Santa called the kids up to receive gifts. Marco kept standing up and whispering "That mine." Until it finally was his. I don't know why I'm surprised, but Santa speaks Italian! He said, "Marrrrco Cecchin! Viene Qui - Buon Natale!"

Dinner time conversation

I read that it is important to talk to your child and especially to listen to show them that you think they are important. Ha. Listening to Marco is a full-time job. Here are a few recent conversations at home:

Marco on *his* phone.
"Hi! Hi Granny. What you doing? Um, um, and the turtles? Okay, okay, bye."

When the cat sniffed a discarded Cheerio.
"No, no Toby cat. That not your Chee-yo, that mine."

After dinner.
"I want eat banana like a big boy." (Meaning he wants to hold it inside the peel.)

In the middle of the night.
"Where my agua go? Dada! My agua fall down! Ooooh no... there it is!"

When Jeff came out of the bathroom.
(Clapping!)"YEAH DADA!! YOU GO POO POO ON THE POTTY!!"

And finally, here are some pics that never made it to the light of the blog: