"Where Is His Other Eye?"

Gen and Chris also came out last weekend and brought Dexter a pumpkin and a package of Mr. Potato Head pieces to make a pirate jack-o-lantern. The "eyes" consisted of a single piece with one eye and one eye patch. Dexter was very concerned about this asking repeatedly, "Where is his other eye?" Gen and Ben spent about 10 minutes explaining what an eye patch was, showing Dexter with their hands how it covers the eye, and hypothesizing about why he needed a patch over his eye. Dexter listened intently to all the explanations and demonstrations and after each attempt at satisfying Dexter's concern and curiosity, he asked them, "Where is his other eye?" Finally, they decided to draw a string for the eye patch around the pumpkin and Dexter was content.

Triumph

We had friends over last weekend and Dexter got to sit on Nathan's pretty Triumph.

Analogies

Dexter's vehicle theme continues. He sometimes refers to his body parts as car parts.

Head = Roof
Eyes = Lights
Legs = Motors
Feet = Wheels
Hands = Mirrors
Arms = Windshield Wipers

It's consistent and it actually makes sense. Whenever I express concern about this behavior of dehumanizing himself and other people, friends say that it is just a sign of a good imagination and intelligence. Because of my reaction (I tell Dexter that he's a little boy and his hands are his hands, not car parts), Dexter now enjoys cajoling Mommy with his "imagination and intelligence". I guess that's pretty smart.

Double Take

A week ago Friday Ben had a gig at a little coffee shop in a neighboring town. We hadn't planned for me to go but during the day I decided to see if I could covertly find a babysitter and show up to surprise him. I tried calling the friend down the street who sometimes babysits for Dexter a few times during the afternoon when Ben was working on his guitar in the basement and taking a shower but I kept getting her voicemail. I didn't want her to call back and ruin the surprise so I kept leaving messages like, "Hi, it's me again. I'm not trying to stalk you but Ben's in the shower so I thought I'd try you again. Don't call back. I'll try you again." I finally connected with her while Ben was teaching a lesson. When Ben was leaving for the gig right after dinner, he told Dexter he had a gig and that Mommy would be home with him tonight. The ruse totally worked! I showed up at the gig, found a seat right in Ben's line of vision about ten feet in front of him and waited for him to look up. I didn't want to take my eyes off of him for a second for fear of missing the moment when he noticed I was there. I had to wait through three songs before Ben looked up but the wait was worth it - when he looked up and noticed I was there, it was the best double take I have ever seen in my life!

I'm a Dog

Ben told me that when Dexter sees people on their morning walks with My Bologna, he declares, "I am a dog," and starts barking. Yesterday, Dexter and I were at the grocery store and I got to witness it first hand. Despite hearing that he'd been doing it, I was a bit taken aback. Needless to say, so were the other shoppers who overhead it.

Reclassifying People as Vehicles

I don't know how it started, why he's doing it, or what the rhyme or reason is to his method (if any) but for the last month or so, Dexter has been reclassifying people as vehicles. Most often, Dexter is a dump truck, My Bologna is a trailer, Daddy is a pick-up truck, and I am a cement mixer. Lately, he's been pointing out people in the park or grocery store and classifying them as well. "Look at that fire truck, Mommy."

TUV

Dexy had been working on his ABC's all summer. For much of August and September he was leaving out HIJK and TUV. Suddenly, mid-September it all came together and he sang the complete alphabet song for Marjie (on the phone) and me. I was very excited and told Marjie that this was the first time he included TUV! I went on to explain that Dexy's Aunt Steph had given him a teddy bear that sings the ABC's when you press its foot and I'd been hearing that a lot lately during nap time. Dexter corrected me saying, "Puppy. He's a puppy." Right you are, Dexter, it's a stuffed puppy, not a teddy bear, that helped you learn your ABC's.