Lately, my funny little Valentine has turned into quite a ham without meaning to at all. Case in point, two weeks ago, I walked into his room when he woke up from nap and gave him books just like always. When nap time was over and I went back to get him, I found that he had lined up most of his animals in front of him. After running to get my camera and sneaking back in, I saw him reading Curious George to his animals. He was leaned up against one side of the crib, and they the other. They looked to be paying very close attention. When he saw me standing there, he declared, "Mama, I readin' monkey book to my animals (pronounced aa-mals)."
This next one's a bit blurry as I took it with my phone. He was so excited to ride the train for the first time when we took him on the T to Boston. He spent most of the ride into the city on his knees looking out the window, ooh-ing and aw-ing at all the "right spots" and declaring to any and all passengers when all of the tunnels were coming up. On the way back, however, he was pretty tired out and fell asleep sitting in the sunshine, lulled by the rhythm of the train. This one's called, "Little Kitty Visits the Big City."
Last week we took our little polar bear to pick up this month's installment of our winter share. He happily rode beside the bok choy after sitting atop most of the root vegetables. He is always so proud when we go to the farm. He points out all of the palmers (tractors) to anyone who will listen and collects rocks in his pockets.
Finnegan also thinks that our cats are his friends and his playmates. Seen here is Zephyr, admittedly not his favorite of the two, but a good companion nonetheless. She sits beneath his seat at mealtimes as though she is a dog, yet has no guilt in sleeping on top of the table when she thinks that no one is looking. Of the two, she lets him pet her the least, though they are both smart enough to tolerate any "loving" he offers and to never protest other than a verbal complaint here or there.
Finnegan asks them to read stories to him, to play trains with him, to sit beside him on the couch or bed, to go for a car ride with him, to put on their hats (they don't actually own hats, but don't tell Finn that). He wants them to sing with him, to go down his slide with him, and he even offers them snacks at snack time.
Cosmo, not seen here, is his best pal and often tries to sneak into his room at nap time. Today I heard her over the monitor and I had to kick her out twice. She loves his attention though, even if it is just having her tail pulled. He calls her "my Tosmo."
And lastly, his true best friend, "Eener." Peter Rabbit and he go way back, as in they met on the day Finnegan was born. My little sister brought him to the hospital and Finnegan has been smitten since. Eener goes everywhere and is shoved in backpacks, dragged around by his ears, or his jacket sleeve, and generally smooshed each and every night. As a result of this friendship, all rabbits everywhere are called Eeners.
Each age just seems to be so much more fun than the last with him, and I love that he has such a sense of humor now and that he laughs at books and things that he thinks are very funny. I love that one of his favorite songs is "Summer Love" by Justin Timberlake and that he simply asks for Justin when he wants it played. He has funny names for so many things and quirky ways of doing things that totally work for him. Tonight I asked him how old his daddy would be tomorrow and he looked right at Jon and said, "Daddy a old man." Of course, this is something I would have repeated all day in hopes of Finn saying it when Jon got home, had I thought of it, of course. But somehow it's so much sweeter with him coming up with it himself.
