Beware the Archicorisaurus

Dorian loves dinosaurs. She loves them “even more than cats,” and that is saying something since every time she sees a cat she simply will not stop following it around. In fact, right now she has all of her dinosaur toys battling in the living room, and the giant T-Rex from Jurassic World is winning. Size does not always matter, however, and sometimes the little Velociraptor is the winner. As she says, “he is tricky, and he is fast.”

Dinosaurs also appear in her art. This piece is interesting as when I first asked her about it, she went into the fact that the Mom dinosaur here was going to eat the baby. When I said that this was morbid and sad, she said, “Mom, that’s nature, it just happens sometimes. They get hungry, and they know when they are weak.” I can’t argue there, and she does watch a lot of nature programming, so it is bound to make an impression.

My counter to this was that there were hearts, and that it really did not make sense for the mom dinosaur to do that since she obviously loved her baby. After a moment of consideration, she agreed. She made an amended story, and she created a new species name of dinosaur called the Archicorisaurus. The name is based on the spikes on the arch of their backs. They are “like a T-Rex” and large-sized meat eaters, but they are more “round and slow with smaller legs.” I asked her, and this does cause problems with catching food. “They are not great hunters, but they are really big, and no one messes with them,” she replied. “They also have really big teeth, so you have to watch out. They might not be fast, but if you are not paying attention, they can gobble you up in one bite.”

Point taken, Dorian. Pay attention to your surroundings or bad things might happen to you. It is a good lesson for us all.

 

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Hey, Squirrel Buddy, Wanna Share my Pasta with Me?

Daddy loves animals, and a while ago he started buying sunflower seeds to feed our neighborhood bird and squirrel buddies. I help too and throw out seeds with Daddy in the mornings so that no one will go hungry.

We have lots of different birds of all colors that come around now, and we have a few squirrels that come every day too. One new squirrel buddy, though, seems to want to come inside to play (and eat my food). He puts his paws on the glass and looks back and forth. He is a curious little buddy, and I like to play with him because he does not run away when he sees me and puts his paws on my hands instead.

See him there? There he is while I am eating, looking in at me. I think he may have wanted his seeds and my pasta, too. I am learning all about sharing, little buddy, and I could let you in and give you pasta if Mama let me. Mama says that he would not really want to come in, though, because our doggie Django is a “rat terrier” and he is made to go after little creatures that move fast.

I guess his place is outside looking in, and that’s okay… after all, he is much different than me. I just watched The Fox and the Hound, so I understand that sometimes relationships have to be done a different way in order to make them work. You can still play with me, little fuzzy guy, at the window, and we can still be friends like Copper and Todd.

“And we’ll always be friends forever.” — Young Todd, The Fox and the Hound 

Can I Fix it? Yes, I Can!

I love Bob the Builder, and I even have a little wooden toolbox of my very own that I can use to fix my toys. I usually just fix little things because I am a little person. When I broke our big speaker, though, by hitting it when I was playing with my Nerf sword, I got to fix that all by myself.

Daddy asked what happened after he got home, and I didn’t say anything… after all, I know when staying quiet is a good idea. Mama ratted on me, though, so my cover was blown. I jumped in then, saying, “I can fix it! I can fix it all by myself!” I went and got the tape and kid scissors. Daddy helped me cut the tape, then I put the front of the speaker put on just right and put tape all around it to make sure that it didn’t move.

After I was done I stood back and admired my handiwork and was so proud. After all, I had never gotten the chance to fix something without help. I think that I did a great job for a 3-year-old. Even though Mama and Daddy chuckled (and Daddy had to come back to make slight changes to my fix), I think they thought that I did, too.

I am Po, Kung Fu Panda!

I am now 3, and I have been through so much in my long, long life that I don’t remember a lot of it. Apparently my brain is still catching up with all of those memories, because I remember some pieces of things and don’t remember others. One of those things is Halloween. My Mama tells me that I was a ninja when I was a baby, and Daddy and Mommy took me all around in their arms because I couldn’t walk yet. I don’t remember that at all, but I can see the pictures of when I was a teeny baby. I think that I made a good little ninja, although I don’t think that I look too dangerous. My lightning fast grip on hair, though, you had to watch out for that.

The next year I was walking, although I wasn’t that good at it yet and couldn’t go too far. That year I got to be Spidergirl. I have never been shy, and so once I got the hang of this “Halloween” thing, I went all by myself to trick or treat. My Mama says everyone was so very proud of me going all on my own. A girl knows what she wants even when they are small, and what I wanted was candy… lots and lots of candy.

Last year I was so into Frozen that I couldn’t have been anything but Elsa. I was a miniature Elsa and my big sister Addie was Anna… backwards I know, but Halloween costumes don’t have to make sense after all, and I couldn’t have been Anna because my favorite is Elsa, plus I have hair just like her. That year we went all over and I got the hang of things, and I got lots of candy with just a bit of help from my Mama and Daddy when by pumpkin got too heavy for me and when my legs got so heavy and sleepy that I couldn’t keep walking. I don’t remember being a ninja or Spidergirl, but I remember a little bit about being Elsa. I felt so fancy, and I did get the hang of collecting as much candy as my little bucket would carry.

This year though… this year I got to choose my costume for the very first time, saying what I wanted to be. At first I wanted to be a witch, then Shimmer and Shine, then a zombie, but I didn’t really want to be any of those things… I didn’t know what I wanted to be and I kept changing my mind every day, because that is what 3-year-olds do about pretty much everything (lunch, treats, what clothes to wear, what books to read…all of the things). When my Mama said I could be Kung Fu Panda, though, that one stuck. I could be my favorite hero, getting to take out Tai Lung with my iron fists? It was no longer a decision. I was Po, and I was going to carry a nunchuck and to be very, very tough (but with a soft and funny side, just like Po).

That is me with my nunchuck on the way to our friends Jill and Stacie’s neighborhood. I might not look too tough, but I played the part well. You wouldn’t have wanted to be a bad guy and to cross my path.

We had to wait until it got dark after we got there, and although it seemed to take forever for the sun to go to sleep so that it was dark enough (I kept asking over and over), the sun did go down and we did get to go out with all of our neighborhood kids. There were so many, big and small, in all sorts of scary and pretty costumes. There were decorations too all around us, light up ghosts and pumpkins and cats and monsters. It was very scary, but the good kind of scary where you know that nothing is really going to come out and hurt you.

I went up and down the streets collecting candy in my little panda suit, and my Mama said my whole suit shook when I ran just like Po’s big belly. I was told I was cute a lot, but really… they had no idea that I have a scary side too. They just better be glad that they were treating and not tricking.

I have Halloween down pretty well now, although I had to keep being reminded to say “trick or treat” and “Happy Halloween” and “thank you” (Mama told me that is the most important one to remember, but sometimes I grabbed candy and ran away and she had to shout it for me). I could have said, “trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat, if you don’t, I don’t care, I’ll pull down your underwear” to them because I know the whole thing, but Daddy said that “Happy Halloween” was way nicer because that song might make some people upset if they don’t have “a sense of humor.” I thought that everyone loved to laugh, but Daddy says some people like to be very serious all of the time. I think that I need to watch out for those people, because I don’t know if I can trust someone who doesn’t laugh about underwear.

We trick or treated for a long, long time, and I got a lot of candy even though I didn’t always remember to say trick or treat or thank you just the same. My bag and legs got all heavy again, and I said I wanted to go back to Jill and Stacie’s house. I checked out all of my candy first…

Then I was so very tired that I took a mini-nap on the couch (I didn’t really sleep, but I needed the rest for my legs and eyes).

Then, at last, I got to meet Jill and Stacie’s little new baby, Jaden. He is 2-months-old, and he is so very little. He was a dinosaur! My Mama said it seems like it was just a bit ago that I was that little, but you can see how big I am now next to him, so it really was ages. 

Mama and Daddy got to play with him too, but then I got oh-so-sleepy and we had to go home. I think that I am now a Halloween expert, and next year I’ll do even better and my legs will be even stronger to take me further faster so that I can get oh-so-much-candy. Thank you, Jill and Stacie, for letting us be a part of your family for the day. We love you and your little dinosaur Jaden too.

My Name is Dorian, but I am also “beautiful.”

I have been told that I am “beautiful” for a while. I knew what pretty was, but “beautiful”… well, I could not really understand that one. I responded every single time for a while, “I’m not beautiful, I Dorian.” My Mama and Daddy laughed at me, but I was serious. I know who I am… I AM DORIAN.

The other day, though, my sister Adalyn took me upstairs to her room, and she put me in some of her dress clothes that she is too big for now. I tried on dress after dress, and Adalyn called down to my Mama and told her that she couldn’t come up to see what we were doing. Mama usually won’t listen to that one because it can mean trouble, but this time she waited for the surprise.

Then we tried it… the most fancy white dress that looked like a princess dress. It was a teeny bit big on me, but it was just the right one. Adalyn smoothed out my hair and brushed it, and then she put on the finishing touch, blue clip-on earrings that made me just like the princesses that I watch. I felt so very pretty.

When I walked down those stairs, just like a princess would in my fancy shoes and earrings and dress, I felt different. I felt so very grown up and big, but I did not know the word for how I felt.

Then Adalyn said it. She said, “Look Mama, doesn’t Dorian look so beautiful?” My Mama said, “Oh Dorian, you are so very beautiful. You look like a princess.” For the first time, I did not argue back. I knew what it meant, and I was… I was beautiful, just like the flowers outside and the stars in the sky. Beautiful is how you feel. Beautiful is flowers and trees and sunshine and mountains and water. Beautiful is me. I am Dorian, and I am beautiful.

The World is a Beautiful Canvas… Big, Big Crayons All for Me.

Daddy and I went to the store the other day and bought crayons. We had crayons in the house already and I have seen my big sisters doing something called coloring where they make pictures pretty, but I have never had them in my hands for very long before because Mama told me that I wasn’t quite ready for the little ones yet and that I would crush them with my little hands. Daddy got me big, wide ones made for me. They are something called “washable,” which my Mama says is really important because I don’t know what to make art on and what not to make art on yet.

They fit my hands just right, and I can put them against the giant paper pad that Daddy bought and color appears. Daddy sat and showed me how, and he even drew me a picture that Mama read and told me says “I love Dorian” with little sunshines and hearts on it.

I don’t really get how to do it yet, though, because when I put my hand against the paper I get little lines that you can barely see, and when Daddy or Mommy does it, they get bright and darker color on the paper. I sat right on the table, my favorite place to sit (which worries Mama silly) and I drew. I didn’t make any pictures, but I did get some scribbles on there for all the world to see. Daddy said that it is beautiful because all art is beautiful, and it is my creation so he loves it… even though it is barely there.

I love my new crayons most, though, because I can put them in the box and take them back out again, over and over and over. I can also scoot around with them in my hands and they are easy to hold on to. Later, when my hands work more like I want for them to, I can make crayon art like my big sisters, and I will make beautiful pictures like the ones that I see in my dreams. Until then, my crayon friends, you can nap in the box and I will get you out to play and to practice.

Next Stop, Mt. Everest. Up and Down… and Up… and Down… and Up Again.

My Mama watches me like a hawk. She says it is to make sure that I am okay and that I am safe. I say it is to interrupt my artistic decorating (Mama calls this baby Godzilla decorating as I move things all around the house) and my ability to go to new places in our house. Despite her efforts, I am finding new things all the time. Yesterday I found the basket of chargers and the dog food bag. Those are both in new places and I heard Mama say, “no, no, no” when she moved them.

She can’t stop me, though. No one can. I am an unstoppable force of nature like the hurricanes that I have heard about on the news. I can go anywhere and everywhere, and I am getting stronger every day. I can now climb all the way up the stairs to the big kid rooms and I even know how to go back again. The giant people in my life help me with this, and when they can’t, there is this big gate thing that they call a “baby gate” that stands in my way of progress. I shake it and shake it, but I can’t seem to get it loose.

I can also climb up and down on the couch and on Mama and Daddy’s bed so that I can look out the windows. I love windows because the big world is out there. I have “mastered” it, so Mama says, which means that I know exactly how to do it right. I swing my leg out wide and push up– which is pretty good since the couch and bed are both close to my neck and I have to use all of my strength to get up. I can get down too by facing my legs backwards and sliding down slowly. I have to stretch and wait until my feet hit the floor. Then I am up again, and then I am back down, and back up, and back down. Mama says that it makes her tired to watch. It makes me sleepy too, and it usually leads to a nap, but it is why I am a master. I have seen those rock climbers on t.v., and I know that they had to start somewhere. Mama says that anything that you want to do is possible, but you have to practice and practice and practice to get good at it. I practiced Mama, see? I am going places, all of the places, and soon you will need to run to keep up.

If you notice, the pictures of me are blurry. That is because I am so very, very fast. Catch me if you can (but don’t catch me really… I need my “me” time right now).

Dirt Baths… Nature Can be Wondrous.

I love outside. Everyone in my family does. I love it in a way that the rest of my family doesn’t understand, though. I love listening to the birds and seeing them fly way overhead. I love the breeze that hits my cheeks when the fall time is beginning. I love the way that the grass tickles my toes before I work to pull it out and crush it. I love the squirrels that come near me until I scream for them to come closer (they run away then, and I don’t know why… I just want to pat their fuzzy heads). What I love more than all of those things, though, is playing in the little herb plants that Daddy planted. I love the feel of the Earth in between my fingers. It’s squishy and soft and moist. I would try to eat it, but it crumbles in my fingers before I can, and then I have to go and pick more up over and over again.

My Mama is quite silly, and she doesn’t enjoy seeing me really dirty. Some of the people in my life like Daddy and Granny let me get food all over the place when I am eating, but Mama feeds me carefully. Daddy’s right, though, that is how I am going to learn one day to not be messy– I have to practice.

Playing in the dirt is like that. My Mama watches me and laughs, but she always looks a bit worried that the plants will suffer from my death grip hands or that I will take all of the dirt out of the pots and put it all over my clothes. I take some, it is nature’s Play-Doh after all. I can’t take all of it, though, and I leave plenty for my little friends the plants. I do like to rub it into my clothes and skin. It is like a dirt bath. Mama is not the biggest fan of dirt baths.

What she doesn’t understand, and what no one else in my family does really, is that dirt is meant to be felt. Everything (except for I guess the squirrels) is meant to be felt. It is a way to be close to outside. My Mama and Daddy sit in the sun and enjoys the breeze too, and they love outside. My big sister Addie and my big, big sister Lilli and my giant brother Jonah all like to be outside to run and play. They ride on those wheel things that they call bikes that I have but my legs aren’t ready for yet. They don’t stop though, to feel and to experience and to love the Earth as much as I do. Mama says that soon I’ll be so busy running and playing to remember, even before I am a giant person like her, but I hope that I don’t. Nature, at its finest, is still, and you can even feel God if you breathe the air in just the right way.

A Little Brown House all of My Own

With the big drum set for my big sister Addie came a giant, giant box as big as six of me. Mama placed me in that big box with some of my favorite toys, and I got to make it my own little house. I closed up part of the lid and I hid from the world, and it was all mine. It needs a bit of décor of course, but I could make this place work. Bye, Mama, bye, Daddy, bye Jonah and Lilli and Addie… I’ll see you guys later. I have some things that I need to do right now, and I need “me” time.

I’m a Big Girl Now, and I Can Swim All By Myself… With the Help of My Little Float

My favorite thing in the world to do is to be in water. I love all water… big pools of water and little ones. I love that Mama and Daddy take me to the pool because it is where I am the happiest. I swim until I pass out from the fun building up and making my eyes really heavy.

This summer I got a little float that my legs go through with a sunshade and little stars that squeak when I hit them. It has bright rainbow colors and it is soft and smooth against my skin. That float is my favorite thing in the water because now I can float on my own (with Mama and Daddy standing by watching over me) and kick my legs. I can even go from one end of the pool all the way to the other if I want to, and Mama or Daddy can swim beside me. I can also just float and take in the calm of the water when my legs aren’t kicking.

My “Auntie” Jill (who is my Godmother too) even took me down a slide this summer. She held me tight and up enough so that no water got in my mouth and nose, and we landed fast with a big splash.

Mama says that since school has begun now that summer is fast coming to an end because it is going to get cold soon, but she told me that there are indoor pools, too, that we can visit when that happens so I can keep on swimming. I sure hope so, because there is just something so peaceful and free about being in the water.

Goodbye summer, until next time. You have been a hot and wet one, but you are so far my favorite.