Funnies

Over the past few days, Nikos has been acting out a little bit (just a little), so we thought we'd take a family trip to the zoo this morning in an effort to show him that we still love him and can go out to do fun things, etc. But of course, it was sprinkling pretty hard by the time we got there (yes, apparently it does rain in Southern California!). We were tempted to throw in the towel and go home, but Nikos was so excited to see the llamas that we figured we'd just see them and leave. After loading both kiddos into the (massive) double stroller and entering the zoo, we learned that the llamas had been relocated next to the brand-new elephant exhibit-- located on the far side of the park, as opposed to near the entrance (where they used to be). How Gus managed to control that stroller on the many hills we walked up and down, I will never know... But we made it out there, and saw some llamas and some elephants (and a giant toy bulldozer, which Nikos pointed out excitedly-- "Tractor! A tractor!"). Three of us got pretty wet, while Maya snoozed in her little cocoon. And then we turned around and went home. It's a good thing we're members, because paying for entry today would have been a waste! Still, it was successful in terms of our first public family outing. So, hooray!

And now for the funnies... It's amazing to me how quickly Nikos is picking up new words and phrases lately... He is definitely going through sort of a language growth spurt! Some of the things he has started saying:

(Counting) Two.. Four... White... Sick... Seben... Eight... Car?

"Aw, maaaan!!" (my personal favorite-- his inflection is perfect)

Today he looked at the bears on Maya's footed pajamas and shrieked "A baby bear! A baby bear!"

"Baby guy" (baby cry)

"Big"-- he's started adding this to things, like "a BIG car!"

And the list goes on and on. All day, he kept asking for strawberries, which he practically inhaled once he got them. And then when Gus got home from running various errands, and I told him that Daddy was home, he looked all excited and asked, "Peeus?" (pizza?). I laughed so hard! Gus brought home pizza the other night, and apparently our friend was hoping for a repeat performance. :) It's pretty stinking cute, I must say. I can't wait for Maya to be able to communicate with us this way... or even stay awake at the zoo, for that matter!

Edited to add: I nearly forgot about Nikos' most important new vocabulary words: "Please" ("pees") and "Thank you" ("dak you"). He is getting pretty good at using them when he asks for something, and it is unbelievably cute. Hooray for manners!