Today Walker and I went for a hike while Daddy helped Pop Pop rearrange some furniture at the house. We came across a trail marker and Walker read the pictures to me: red circle, arrow, cowboy and Mommy. Cowboy = horse riding, Mommy = hiking, Arrow = direction and Red Circle = No Smoking. When confronted with a “no smoking” sign, I was thankful that Walker has grown up in a world where he has never seen a cigarette and would have no concept of smoking. I have hope for his generation.

I realized recently that many of the things I take for granted, I must explain to the little human in my charge. In mid-December, it occurred to me that the legend of Santa was not part of our race memory and I must fill his little head with the story to maximize Christmas fun. I seemed to be successful because Sofiya asked Larry to be Santa’s helper and Walker was terribly excited to see Santa visit the school. Not one child, including Walker, noticed Santa appeared only after Larry excused himself to go to the loo!

Santa has Daddy's eyes

Walker continues to amaze us with his memory. A few weeks ago, he saw photos from our Maine trip and he talked to me about playing “Scary Monster”. Today he started singing the theme from “Bob the Builder” but we haven’t seen the show in months. He tells me about stories we haven’t read for a very long time. It’s both exciting and intimidating to watch Walker’s little synapses knit together and to know that everything, (yes everything, even when you think he’s not paying attention) is getting uploaded into his wetware.

It continues to amaze me how much Walker’s speech improves. His mind goes so quickly and he wasn’t able to keep up for awhile, resulting in a little stutter. However, one night, something must have clicked in his head and the stutter all but disappeared and his vocabulary and verbal confidence exploded. “Cool,” “awesome,” and “‘bunga dude” (that being “cowabunga dude” which was introduced by Uncle Thayer), have made their way into Walker’s lexicon. At least “sure! yah” has changed to the more formal “yes.” He’s trying out calling Daddy by his given name of “Yarry” (he finds it hard to pronounce “L”) and is mimicking everything we say. On the off chance we don’t understand what he’s saying, is patient and gracious when his idiot parents ask him to repeat himself a multitude of times or ask him questions. Today he asked for “mayon” which sounds a lot like how he refers to Madeline. As it is Sunday, I figured he couldn’t be speaking of his girlfriend but I inquired whether he was referring to food or a person. “FOOD!” he said loudly. Moments later and a few more times hearing the word,  it dawned on me that he wanted MELON but I never would have known had I not known he enjoyed a sweet juicy cantaloupe with his Pop Pop on Saturday.

On the social front, Walker has another female competing for his affections. Violette came to Sofiya’s this Fall and is a month or two younger than Walker. She was immediately smitten. She started following him around all day and that behavior seemed to tip off Madeline that a rival was at hand. One day, Madeline grabbed Walker and gave him a big, huge passionate kiss on the lips. This was witnessed by all the kids as well as Madeline’s mother who was a bit horrified at her daughter’s gumption. The following day, when Madeline sauntered near Walker for some canoodling, Violette, not wanting a repeat of the amorous activities, hauled off and clocked Madeline. The confrontation thankfully ended there (I can’t imagine what form a Toddler Cat Fight might take) and there have been no further incidents but Larry and I are amazed at the effect Walker has on the chicks. (It is worth mentioning that today the nice woman at the Jenner Deli/Gas Station refused payment for his hot dog because she was overwhelmed at Walker’s adorableness. This just proves his charm is not limited to the Toddler cohort.)

Walker and Madeline share a dance at the Christmas party

The "Other" Woman