Binky

One of Trent's new favorite books is Leslie Patricelli's Binky. Some of existing favorites include Sandra Boynton's titles including But Not the Hippopotamus, Barnyard Dance, and The Going-To-Bed Book. Binky, however, is the first book where I've gotten the sense that Trent understands the plot. It is the 12 page sage a baby questing for a lost binky. I think Trent understands the elements of the story. Perhaps because he can identify with the main character, the motivation, the narrative line, and the cathartic nature of the resolution. I won't spoil it for you by telling whether or not the baby finds the binky.

O, Green and Nine

Trent can identify several letters. His favorite is the letter 'O'. He can pick it out of words. He was, for a while, confused about the difference between the letter 'O' and holes. He seems to have worked that out though.

His favorite color is green. Anytime we let him pick out a shirt to wear from his drawer, he chooses a green shirt. Sometimes, when the green shirts are dirty, he gets upset. He likes to pick books off of bookshelves both at our house at his grandparents. He has favorites that he always chooses first. He likes The Northern Lights: The True Story of the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Aurora Borealis and a book about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Both have a greenish turquoise color. His favorite Little People animal is the iguana, which is also a turquoise color.

Trent seems to be able to distinguish numbers from letters. But, all the numbers are nine. I've been trying to teach him to count. I count things for him. Then I ask him to count them too. He can't count things yet. But, he can point to things each in turn and say "Nine!".

Little Boys and the Truck Gene

I have made no conscious effort to place gender stereo types on Trent. OK, that's not entirely true. We do buy him boy-oriented toys. But, certainly of all the toys that we've bought him, I'm certain I've done nothing to create within him a specific love of trucks. I've discussed this phenomena with colleagues at work who have had a similar experience. We agree that we may have seen the joy that trucks bring to our sons and reinforced it by buying them truck toys and truck books. But where that original obsession with trucks comes from and why little girls don't seem to have any similar interest in trucks remains one of those mysteries of life.

One of the joys of parenting in the modern age is the amazing amount of freely available highly specific source material available for entertaining, er instructing, the young ones. Some of Trent's favorite youtube videos feature garbage trucks,strip mining, and excavators. One of the other joys is that while I was searching for videos for Trent, I came across this gem for myself.

Trent's Trike

This weekend Trent got his first tricycle. It's a Radio Flyer. I like it. It has a solid aluminum frame. Required some assembly. If only it had rubber tires instead of plastic. Trent seemed to like it too. Especially the bell.

The Great Library Project

The Great Library Project has actually been complete since sometime last Fall I believe. However, now, there are some pictures. The first is a picture looking toward the outside corner of the house. This section contains all the hardback novels, the reference books, and all of Tina and my text books. The second picture is looking toward the opposite corner into the house. This section is made up of less deep shelves that house all the paperback novels.

The Great Library Project involved 17 sheets of plywood, six coats of finish, and about two weeks of free time all told. I learned many things building the library. If I were to do it again, I think I would avoid using any water-based finish. It's just too difficult to get a hard enough finish. With the water-based finishes I'm always worried about books sticking in the paint. The library shelves all have coats of water-based lacquer as a top coat. That hopefully takes care of the sticking problem. But all in all, given the effort that goes in to something like this, the added effort of an oil-based finish is probably worth it.

Trent At The Playground

The flickr set is here.