Manners, Directions, and Impressions, Oh My!

Maletch continues to surprise me with the things he says and does:

Maletch has very good manners, always "please", "thank you", and "excuse me", and now he even says Grace at the dinner table!!

Saying Grace:
Since he was born, he has always watched us say grace for each and every meal (even snacks) We have never asked him to wait to begin eating until we say grace, since he is so young, but he has been doing this all on his own. He always waits to eat until we say grace. He always says "Amen". Since he has shown interest in saying grace, I started giving him simple things he can say, like "Thank you God for Tacos" and other little things.
Tonight while I was making dinner, he said with such excitement, "I get to say grace!"
After he sat down at the table, I put his plate down in front of him and I went to get his juice... I heard, "Thank you God, Amen" and he had hands together and his head bowed. I was so proud that he said grace all on his own! So when I sat down, I said, "Mommy is going to say grace too." As I was saying it out loud, he repeated every line word for word, and he had the biggest smile on his face!

Driving Directions:
I always tell him which places we will be going while out running around. He always remembers all of the places we will go and also the ORDER of places we will go (example, I will tell him we will go to one place first, another place second, and so on) and he always remembers which is supposed to be next, and he can quote exactly what I said (most times there are 4-5 places).

Somehow he is very good with directions already! Here are a few examples (all from today):
When we were leaving K-Mart to go to Toys R Us, he said, "We need to cross the street and go this way" (pointing left) and he was right.
After that, we were at a light getting ready to turn into the store parking lot, he said, "We need to turn left!" (the store was on the left).
Another time today, I changed my mind about one of the stores, I was going to do it a little 'out of order' and he said, "We need to turn around, the store is that way!" (he was twisting around in his seat trying to look behind us). He was right, that was where we were supposed to be going. He does this constantly in the car! He is my little navigation system, haha!

He also completely understands about time (today, tomorrow, first, after, etc). Last weekend, he wanted to go to the store, but we didn't have time to go. So I promised him "We can't today, but we can go tomorrow." Well the next morning, he woke up and did his routine with daddy, and he waited for me to wake up. As soon as I woke up, he said, "Hi Mommy, we go to the store now, OK?" I had completely forgotten about it (until he reminded me). John was cracking up that he remembered AND that he waited to mention it until I got up (since I was the one who said it)! So I asked, "OK, where do you want to go?" Maletch said, "How about Walmart and Jamba Juice?" I said, "OK, that sounds fun." He said, "Mommy, go get ready, OK?"

Impressions:
I love listening to Maletch play, and what is so hilarious is that he actually does "voice impersonations" now!! I'm not kidding. Ok, so he is really into Thomas the train, as probably all of you know... we watch videos, read books, and have loads of train characters for him to enjoy! Well just like in any movie, of course each character has their own different voice, and several are very distinctive. Maletch first started imitating "Diesel 10" (a train who has a deep and raspy voice). Maletch will say his lines in his best deep and raspy voice, "Hi, stinky steamies, I am Diesel 10!" He started doing "Sir Topham Hatt" (the person in charge of the railway) too- who has a different deep voice. Now he does impressions of them all, and he also "does" Mickey Mouse too! He will say, "Hi Pal!" (a famous Mickey line) in his best high-pitched squeaky voice. We have NO IDEA how he came up with 'doing voices', but it is hilarious, and he is actually quite good at it! Now when he is playing with his trains, they have conversations, and he has a whole boatload of different voices he can do.
Another tidbit: he also knows the story lines of Thomas and he can tell you which trains do which jobs (ex: pull freight or coaches, etc), where they are supposed to go (ex: the wharf or docks, etc) and all sorts of information. If you put the trains together wrong, he will gently correct you. He is quite the little Thomas expert!

More for Your Entertainment:
Maletch has loved music since he was an infant. He loves to dance and play in his band... and since we have purchased several 'kids music videos', he has learned and memorized MANY songs. The songs he knows, he knows quite well and he can really put on a show! I will be video-taping him singing this week, and I will post it here, for those of you that can't make the "live show." I will also type in the lyrical mistakes that he makes, he doesn't skip words, but there are a few words that he hears/pronounces wrong, which make it so cute! Just for one example: In "Row, Row, Row your boat" he sings, "Gently down the street." I think a boat rowing down the street is way more cool than rowing down the stream, hehe!

Maletch just LOVES to talk to people everywhere we go, and nobody can believe that he is only 2. It is a little harder to get Maletch to sit down for a long phone conversation, but he loves to talk on the phone, so if any of you would like to call him...

Another Day At Disneyland BABY!!

So we went back to Disneyland Sunday (July 18)-- YIPEE! It's such a good thing we have Season Tickets, cuz there is so MUCH to do there, it will probably take us all year to do it all!
This visit was so much different than the last, and as much or more fun!

This time:
We explored "Toon Town"- we went to 'Mickey's crazy house', where we met Mickey and had photos taken with him.

Meeting Mickey:
It's too bad that there was a line of people waiting to meet Mickey, so we couldn't spend more time with him. Most kids this age are afraid of the large characters and usually cry when they meet them, but Maletch was super excited! He wanted to check him out, like really stare at him, and I could tell that he didn't want to leave when our turn was up. Mickey first asked him for a hug, then a "high-five" and then a "fist bump" and Maletch thought he was so cool!

We also visited Goofy's house and a few other places, then off to 'It's a Small World' which was closed last time, so we were happy to get to go on that. As soon as we got off the ride, we ran into the "Celebrate You Parade" going by! We saw Woody and Jessie (from Toy Story), Chip n' Dale, Tigger, Pooh, Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, and many others go by, so that was fun!
We of course went back on Nemo Submarine and Autopia (two of his favorites) and he was over the moon excited about those! We also watched the spectacular fireworks show again!

Funny Highlights:
At night we purchased a TON of "light-up" goodies to walk around with, and Maletch got a Light-Up Bubble Blowing Gun- that thing is so cool and it shoots TONS of bubbles per second- like a bubble gun Uzi, LOL! The funny part was he started shooting himself in the face with it- and he kept on shooting himself in the face! He thought it was HILARIOUS! Everybody walking by stopped to watch him have fun, and we were all giggling. I knew the soapy bubbles would sting his eyes, so I felt bad that instead of instantly stopping him (figuring it would sting)- I was snapping photos of him, and Daddy was video-taping! When I stopped to clean off his face, I couldn't believe the THICK layer of soap on his face! His face was covered in goo- including his eyes- but he didn't even complain about it. and he couldn't stop laughing!

Maletch kept dancing to music EVERYWHERE we were, sometimes there wasn't music, so he made up his own- although there was usually music. He tries to impress girls that he likes by dancing in front of them- which is so cute and funny to watch. He met a few little girls that he really liked and got a little upset when we had to leave them. He is a huge flirt, and it is something most people have to see to believe! When there aren't any little girls around, he will dance with teenagers and ladies- and people were just cracking up at his personality. Of course he danced with mommy and daddy too! We did get a video of him dancing with one lady, which I will post soon!
We heard a live band playing off in the distance and he preferred to dance and flirt with girls than leave the area (to go on rides)... so we walked over to watch the band play- and he went RIGHT up to the stage and was dancing with the teenage girls and adults.
I posted a slideshow below with lots of pics!