Choosing Favorites

The little dude is starting to understand the concept of “favorites,” both his own and those of others. A couple of weeks ago, we were standing in his bathroom, admiring our newly displayed sealife shower curtain, and he said, "You like octopus!"

Me: Yes, I do.
Him: I like shark!

Hmm, this is new. I asked if he’d like me to get him a toy shark, but he replied that “No, sharks are scary."

Later, he was imagining a whole aquatic zoo in the gap between his bed and the wall, describing all kinds of colorful fish and of course, a shark. After going on a while, he tells me he sees an octopus, because he knows that will please me. "It's your favorite!"

He's decided that green is his favorite color. He requests green Dots (a candy similar to gummy bears), and when we draw, he picks the green marker for himself and hands me the red one, since he’s noticed that I like red. Seeing him grow like this makes up for how he’s starting to pretend not to hear me when I tell him to pick up his toys.

Photos: from our outing to the Tour of California, which brought some of the biggest international names in cycling to town today. Q trotted alongside me for more than a mile total, encouraged by sips from his Jamba Juice, and we met SwingDaddy, who'd ridden there on his bike.

I'm disappointed I can't bring the good camera with us when we go on scenic jaunts, but I can’t manage the weight in addition to Swimmy anymore. We did see one photog who had jammed his head under the barricades, but by the time we returned, he was merely sprawled on the asphalt, peering through his cannon-sized lens.