OK, so "read" is an exaggeration, but he has memorized one of his favorite board books and now he will go through it and point at the pictures and "read" it to us. It's pretty cool. He's only recently started to pretend to read and the first day he did it I thought it was hilarious. He will also try to read the signs when we are driving down the road and he'll say things like, "There's a Thai place." We never know if he is right because by the time we realize what he said we are well past the place to which he is referring.
Speaking of Thai food, we have found a wonderful little Thai restaurant VERY close to our house. Too close, really. The first few weeks we were here before we had our kitchen in working order we were very tempted by their deliciousness! In fact, one of Koa's pretend things that he likes to do now is take our order. Any time he has a pen and paper he will cock his head to the side and say, "What you want?" or "You want some Thom Kha?" Sometimes no matter what we order he will tell us they are all out...except the thom kha. At least he knows to keep the good stuff on hand...
He's gotten quite helpful around the house in lots of ways. He likes to help move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Now that we have a front load of each and they are at his level I can ask him to do it and then walk away and he does a good job. Sometimes I come back and both machines are running because he also knows which buttons to push to turn them on, but I usually don't go far enough that I can't hear the beeps.
He also likes to help take things to the recycling bin (so much so that I found a plate in there the other day after Zak asked him to help clear the table...) and just this week he has started helping me wash the dishes. Admittedly, he only does his job with scrubbing the dishes until he gets distracted by holding a puppet show with the two scrub brushes having a conversation, but it's nice to have company with my least favorite chore...and entertainment, too!
Edit: I forgot to mention just how much Koa likes to help empty and clean his own potty now. I also should probably mention that there are few things more likely to give a mom a heart attack than a two year old wielding a bowl of poop!
A while back we bought Koa a little fabric doll from the thrift store for like 10 cents. It's been a great investment. Recently Koa named the baby. His name is George Mueller. He plays with George all the time. Occasionally he takes a nap with him. He takes him to the potty. (Fortunately he is fabric because there have been potty mishaps with the doll, as well, and he washes quite nicely in the washing machine.) He straps him into the baby's car seat. I'm curious how his relationship with George will change after the baby comes. This should be an interesting saga to witness.
My one last little Koaism to share tonight happened the other day when he was on the phone with Grandpa Stimple. Stimple was asking if he could come visit and then inquiring as to the protocol if he were to show up to the house. It went something like this:
Stimple: "When I get to the door do I knock on the door or do I ring the doorbell?"
Koa: "No, you push the button and say, 'Mayonnaise!'"
Where does he come up with this stuff!?
