AIRPLANE!

When Aunt Amy comes to town we always volunteer to pick her up at our little airport. Mason has always loved airplanes and took his first flights when he was just three weeks old. Whenever he spots an aircraft in the sky (plane or helicopter) and say "Airplane! Mamie?".

Amy went to Israel recently and borrowed our iPod touch, which Mason thinks is his. Since then, every time he sees an airplane he says, "Airplane! Mamie! Pie pod???".

I told him Amy was coming this weekend and forgot to add she was driving her car this time. We might have to go watch a plane land just to keep from breaking his heart.

Mason's hands and face are saying that the plane is BIG!

Fort Man

Mason is supposed to sleep in his bed, although he prefers to sleep in the recliner in his room.
He also likes to sleep in his parents' bed but is quietly tucked in back in his own room if it's before 7am.

He's even been found testing out his brother's crib, but he was laughing- not snoring when discovered.

This is Mason's new crash pad. It's a fort we made so he could read in the dark with a flashlight. He opted to sleep in it the first night. We put him back in his bed before we went to sleep. When he got up in the night to go to the bathroom he returned to the hut.
This has gone on for a few days. I thought about putting my foot down but why? When we say it's bed time there's no cajoling on our part or stalling on his. He'll run to his room and climb into the fort and call out "Night".

Sharky gets a fish

Mason's preschool teacher came over for a home visit today. He always gets excited to see her and calls her "my Collette". She showed me his articulation test from a few months ago to go over what sounds he's still not making. The test showed that the "F" sound wasn't showing up in his language at all. She brought activities to help out. We were both super surprised to hear him clearly say "Fish" as he worked on a fish puzzle. Recently he has made huge improvements in his speech. Today he continued to make the "F" sound so well, even in the middle of words, not just the beginning.

To celebrate we decided to get him a fish, partially as a reward and partially to continue to work on the sound. We went to Wal-mart and bought two goldfish. Mason picked out some glass rocks from the Dollar Store. We put it all in a big spare vase and our fishy home is complete. Their names are Spaz and Nemo. There might be something wrong with Spaz...

Mason likes to blow on top of the water. This evening I walked in on him holding the vase and growling "my precious". (I don't really expect these pets to last long...but that was sort of my intention).

As a side note, his Aunt Lisa nicknamed Mason "Sharky" a few weekends ago. He still responds to it and when he's Sharky he really devours his fish crackers. Add that nickname to the rest (Mace Face, Captain Tenderheart, JasonJr., The Amazing Mason, etc)

and a few more:

We've been working on Mason's speech articulation. Helping? perhaps. Now he walks around saying T-T-T BALL! or M-M-M Nilp (his way of saying MILK). I think we've encouraged him to develop a stutter :)

At night he asks for one of three bedtime stories: Polar Express, Baby Mason story, or Deer Hunt. Last time I was telling him a made up deer hunt story he took over. He was telling me who all was going. "Me Mason Starr, Daddy, Joe, BJ, Elli, Nate...". When he paused I suggested Eli. He laughed like it was the biggest joke. "No! Baby not go. Baby not walk!"

The other day we walked into a dark room and Mason asked me to please turn the sunshine on.

He counts: One, two, three, four, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

Ask him which of two options he wants and he'll answer BOTH! with a big smile.

When Mason didn't hear something I said that he thinks might be interesting he gets in my face with big eyes and asks "mommy say?". When there is a noise and he can't figure out where it came from he does the same thing but asks "mommy noise?"

He's very polite. He has continued with the "yes, I may" answer for almost any question. He thanks me for making his bed and helping him potty. He uses "please" all the time. When he wants to talk he'll say "shooz me" over and over until he gets his turn. If he trips or accidentally bumps something he'll say "Oops please".

More Masonisms

What he says:
"Ooooh! More milk. Thanks mom. Mommy makes me HAPPY!"
"Hey Mom, nice toes. Oh cute toes."
"Mom? Baby say Baa?"
To Eli "Honey. "Hon-nee! don't cry honey"
 He says "Sha-Ta Sha-Ta" for the noise trains make.
Any time we put on shoes he starts shouting "Hurry!"
The word LOOK sounds like Yuut and he says it all the time.
Recent favorite phrase "Not yet"

Sho Man

Mason loves snowmen. He'll take anything that can be stacked (blocks, rocks, books, playdoh balls, yogurt cups) and turn it into a snowman. He loves to sing the song "Once there was a snowman" but when he says "snowman" it sounds more like "sho man".



This is the boys building a snowman in the front yard (oh how we love having a yard). They carefully built it out of the crusty snow, added a face and arms, loved it, hugged it, and then Mason decided to smash it and stomp it to bits. He sure loves his snowmen...

Back to School

Today was the first day back at pre-school for Mason in a month. He slept in this morning. I went in to wake him up and said "Mason it's a school day" and started doing our School Day Dance. He jumped up and shouted "Me excited!".

He stayed excited and happy all the way to school and ran inside. Once we got to the classroom he was greeted by the teacher and all the aides. Suddenly he was overwhelmed and shy. He stood still, staring at the ground. Then slowly he raised his hands to his beanie and pulled it down over his face. He stood there frozen- invisible in his mind- until I removed his hat. Someone directed his attention to the toys at the table and he snapped out of it.

looking up...

Mason looks up to: the block tower
Mason looks up to: cousin Ryan

Teacher Mace

Mason took advantage of this captive audience and told Eli stories and showed him his drawings. Eli was polite and didn't interupt or fall asleep.

I like how Mason looks naked here-

Mason's Baby

I almost forgot about "Mason's Baby". I should have written about this a long time ago. About the time that I started showing a baby bump we started talking about the baby a lot to Mason to try to help him get used to the idea. Pretty quickly he decided that he too had a baby in his stomach. Funny, we thought, but probably not that unusual. One night when my baby was really active I got Mason's hands and had him feel the kicks. His response? "Cool Mom. Look Mom! My baby too!" He lifted up his shirt and started sucking in his stomach. We were a bit concerned and just went easy on the baby talk for a while. But Mason's baby didn't stop moving. Mason would come find me at random times, gleefully showing me his moving baby. We didn't want him to feel jealous or left out or anything so we didn't really know how to handle his active imagination.

Where's your baby? Right HERE!

Fast forward a couple of months and my baby arrived. We all looked at Mason, wondering what would happen to his baby. He didn't mention it for a while and we thought it was over. Well, yesterday he came up to me with a soft baby puppet toy that was mine as a child. In Mason-Speak he told me (with actions) about the baby. It used to be in his stomach and would kick, kick, kick! And then one day, "the baby came home". Then he held the toy close and gave it kisses. So I guess that is Mason's delivery story.

I peed my Nemo!

Mason keeps us ever entertained with his quirky personality. He's really independent when it comes to going to the bathroom. Often we don't know he's even gone unless we spot him with his underwear inside out or if he comes to us with his clothes asking "is this how it goes?". He's started a new funny thing where he slaps his stomach to... you know... get every last drop in the toilet. We'll hear a slapping sound from down the hall and know that he's in there taking care of business.

He just came in and said "I peed my Nemo!" in a very upset voice. He had an accident, in his Disney character underwear.

Big Brother

Mason loves "his baby" and is always bringing him more blankets, toys, and giving him kisses. He impresses me with how gentle and concerned he is. We were leaving the house the other day and Mason thought we were leaving Eli behind. He was so worried and kept nagging us to go get the baby. When Mason has been away, he seeks out his brother on his return and often says "Oh hi baby!" and gives him hugs and kisses.

Now if we could just teach Mace to change diapers...

Q&A

Mason, what are you doing?

Swimming in my pond.

Say AH!

Mason went to the dentist for the first time. I was worried it might be traumatic and let him pick a stuffed animal to bring along. I should have guessed that he would love it. He's a funny kid that seems to enjoy all the extra stimulus. Like when he was a baby and loud noise and extra sensations would put him right to sleep.

He loved the waiting room with all the toys, he loved the huge fish tank, he loved the bear rug on the wall, he loved watching the movie in the ceiling, he loved the earphones, he loved getting his teeth cleaned, and he loved the sprayer and suction hose (even when it kept grabbing his tongue).


After the cleaning the dentist came over to check out his teeth. Mason obediently let him poke and prod. He said everything looks great. When we were done they gave Mason a token for a candy machine full of little toys. He loved it but now he knows what those machines do! I've been trying to avoid him learning that.


They also sent him home with a new toothbrush, flosser, and toothpaste. He has always been pretty good about brushing his teeth and letting us have a turn to help get everything clean. Now he's better than ever and asks to brush his teeth throughout the day. I can also say "Remember the dentist said not too much toothpaste" and he'll obey without a fit.

Gingerbread House

Mason made a gingerbread house at the annual Grandma Christmas Party. He really liked squirting the frosting on the graham crackers... and then squirting the frosting into his mouth. We let him munch on it as he wants since it's pretty hard and there's not much candy on it.


Actually we let him munch on it because it's so entertaining to watch him pick up the whole thing and try and get a bite off of it.