UMPHA...UMPHA! I AM STUCKED...!

UMPHA...UMPHA! I AM STUCKED...!

Kai loves to play with water. In the backyard I have several five gallons pails recycled from paint containers. I use them when mixing fertilizer. For some reason Kai will collect stones and pebbles and throw them inside the pail. At times he will find a stick or a bamboo pole; anything that he can use to stir the water that was left in the pail. Today, like anytime that we are in the backyard, he was able to find a tin can and a plastic coke bottle. I let him do his thing because I don't think there will be any harm at all. Besides he enjoys what he his doing and I change the water often so he can play with clean water. I can also trim the dead leaves and sweep at the same time. I keep an eye on him once in a while...but suddenly I heard: "Umpha...Umpha! I am stucked!" I saw him sitting with his pants down, trying to pull it off, but his shoes were in the way. That was what got "stucked..." "What are you doing?" I asked. Upon inspection, I saw that the one of the pants' leg was wet. He will scoop the water and will transfer the water to the bottle then pour it to the pail again. I imagine he missed the bottle and the water went to his pants. He knows how to pull his pants down... uh...uh.! Tisha was telling me that he usually undress naked. One time here in the house, he got his arm out from the neckline of his shirt trying to take off the shirt..."it is hot!" That was what he said to me when I came to the rescue. It is amazing how he was able to analyze the situation of being stucked. He uses that word when he can't get anything from his toy box or just like today, his two play cars were on top of each other and when he tried to get one... the word just came out. He knows the word "broke" and "fix." He has always been in the stage of tinkering; pushing buttons, opening and closing all that will interest him ever since I can remember. He really started early trying to find out how things work. I guess it started when I taught him how to operate the light switches in the house...with the "yaets" (light) and "dak" switching the lights on and off in the house. He still does those things once in a while except that the words sound more precise.."light" and "dark." I think it is a good sign because his mind is working. This afternoon got a hold of the Polaroid camera. For sure he knows what it is. He knows that it is for taking pictures. Could you imagine that he as able to open the camera and shot a couple of pictures? At first I am not paying attention when he gave me a Polaroids picture. I thought it was one of my missed-shots, but when he gave me the second one, I saw that he was carrying the camera. I have to run after him to get the camera because he was on his way to the backyard when I told him to give it to me. Boy Oh Boy!... he was really fast!

His obsession to look at the inflated Snowman is still going. I told Mike that I have to go to that yard sometime in the evening and put a hole in it (just kidding). We spent about half an hour just sitting on the curb looking at the Snowman and Santa Claus balloon. It is about six houses down the street...and this is where he would like to go as soon as I loosen his seat belt. "go...go...snowman!" "come on umpha." I will have to distract him or tell him that they are still asleep. I made a twelve inch high snowman last night hoping that he will give me peace...I was wrong! He does not like anything that resembles a doll. That is a "no" - "no." I am not sure what he gets from just looking. When I told him to go near the Snowman and touch it, he will say no. The only way I can persuade him to go home is by telling him that Santa Claus will read book to the Snowman because the Snowman will go "nite-nite" and the door will be closed. I will ask him to say "see you later Snowman."

We did not watch much TV today. We read books and when Mike came, he greeted his Daddy. While Mike was eating he sat opposite him and saw that Mike is drinking Coke. I know that he would like to have some, so I poured a little bit in a glass and gave it to him. He showed his appreciation by his smacking his lips with a sound of "mm-mm." He actually just took a couple of sips and then went to the living room. That was when he started to untangle his toy cars and started riding them in the house. Finally he got the other one and he wants me to ride it. He even asked Mike to ride it too. I told him that Daddy is eating...we can go to the living room. He decided that he want to do it outside. "Open door..." Umpha carried the two cars and we played there til Mike was ready to bring him home. Mike had to catch and grab him because he is not ready yet. Bye..bye Umpha...see you later...