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...