Some things we like...

OK, so I think I've mentioned AJ's obsession with Thomas and Matchbox cars (unfortunately, I have not become obsessed with either and wonder how long these "phases" will last...weeks? months? years? oh, help me!). But there are some other things that AJ likes that I'm much more into, or at least tolerant of.
One is these rain boots. We inherited them from our friends Mike and Heidi's son, Ronin, and AJ loved them from the start. When he puts them on, he often reminds me that Ronin gave them to him, and I think that might be part of the appeal. He loves when I actually allow them as an outerwear choice, but on most dry days will settle for wearing them around the house. Here he is trying them on over his PJ feet. It was so funny I had to take his picture.
Another favorite time to wear them is after his nap. This is only especially funny because a lot of the time I'll take his jeans or pants off and let him nap in his shirt and diaper, but when he gets up he does not want to put pants back on...just the boots. Someday I'll try to capture this image. It will crack you up!
 

Another love of AJ's is music. He likes to help me play my guitar, and has gotten pretty good at strumming gently with the pick. (I think he's over trying to drop the pick into the guitar...good times.) He requests songs in the car from the CD's I like to play, which makes me happy, and his recent favorite is Weird Fishes by Raidohead. If given the choice of a sung song, he will usually want me to sing one of my made-up verses to "the Wheels on the Bus" such as, "the fork on the Forklift goes Up and Down...". He loves all the verses that I've made up about construction vehicles. Go figure! He also likes rhymes like Barberry Cross and Humpty Dumpty and usually wants me to repeat them over and over and over...and over! 

Here he is at the Storytime/Singalong that my guitar teacher does at the Lincoln Park Zoo every Monday. (Note my teacher's cool outfit when he dresses up to be Professor Boonie for the occasion. I told him he should wear it tonight to our guitar class' graduation.) AJ loves boppin' around to the music, and stayed in one spot much better than I had expected!  Since this is a free, drop-in event held every Mon and Wed at the Zoo, we might start to go more and more as it warms up outside. (also, the special verses Prof. Boonie is singing pay special homage to the recent rate hike and service cuts on the CTA)