Miscellany

Roughhousing
Lincoln is not just getting bigger (a 3.5-hour "growing nap" the other day), he is becoming much more physical in his play. He seems to think: "Why walk when I can RUN?", "Why sit when I can JUMP?", and "Why cuddle when I can WRESTLE?" Although Greta nearly had him in a fireman's carry this afternoon, he avoided her attempt at a pin with a quick escape roll to the left. I had a brief flashback to my days as statistician to the Spartans and Bombers wrestling teams and scored it T-2, E-1.

Literalist
Greta seems to take her vocabulary very seriously. She enjoys "big" words, and often asks for the meaning of words she hears in conversation, the definition of things, or to have the word repeated so that she can learn it. On the way home from Syracuse, she and I had the following (funny) conversation:
Greta: "Mom, what are those called?"
Mom (driving 72 mph on I-81 South): "What are you asking about?" I glance over my shoulder at her.
Greta: "THOSE." She points out her window. "On the train."
Mom (casting a quick glance out the window and spotting a double-decker train): "Those are freight cars filled with cargo."
Greta is quiet for a minute, apparently thinking. Then she says, in a very know-it-all voice: "Not CAR-go, mom. They're filled with TRAIN-go!"

Take that!
Lately Greta has added the phrases "just the girls" and "no boys allowed" to her arsenal. She uses them daily to exclude Rob, or Lincoln, or both from whatever it is she is doing or wants to do. Today she dashed into her room with Lincoln in hot pursuit and slammed the door just as he rounded the corner. She loudly declared: "No boys allowed!!!" I waited to see what Linc would do. Would he cry? Stomp his feet? Turn around and play in his room? Without a moment's hesitation, he made his right hand into a fist, gently tapped, and said, "Knock knock!" Smart little fella'!