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250th Book Report! Not too bad for one school year.

This is my 250th book report for 1st Grade, Mrs. Mann's Class at Whitehall Elementary. It's Shadow by Marcia Brown and I liked it very much:

I Recently Finished My 150th Book Report for Mrs. Mann's 1st Grade Class!

This is my 150th book report for Mrs. Mann's Class this year. It is Bad Dog, Marley! by John Grogan.

Book Reports for Mrs. Mann's Class

I've been posting book reports on Youtube for Mrs. Mann's Class at Whitehall Elementary. For each 10 book reports that I read, I get a charm. As of this posting, I've submitted 32. If you would like to see some of them, here is a link to my Youtube channel for these reports.

Sleep Travel

Last night I went to sleep at home in Anderson, South Carolina and woke up several hundred miles away at Grandpa David's house in Holden Beach, North Carolina. Since I can remember, the same mysterious night time travel has happened my whole life - becoming more frequent around the holidays. I can even recall falling asleep in Atlanta, Georgia only to be woken up disembarking a plane on a small island in the Caribbean.

I don't know how this is possible, or if it happens to everyone, but it is both exciting and scary. Suppose that I overslept, would I wake up on Europa? Or if I woke too soon, could I end up stuck in between two places that didn't quite exist yet?

So far, all of my travel has been interesting, to say the least. It's quite nice to have involuntary vacations thrust upon me. Maybe it's my subconscious’s way of telling me that I need a break. Or maybe it is a mutation or deformity that will become uncontrollable with age. Either way, I enjoy my sleep travel and hope that it keeps sending me places that are fun and new.

Super Toddler

I am the Destroyer of Breakfast, the Marauder of Mealtime, the Conqueror of Inappropriate Subjects and the Ruiner of all that is New, Treasured or Expensive. If there is a book being read, a nap being attempted or a headache that will not subside, I will be there, and I will be loud. Because I am Purveyor of Noise, Instigator of Trouble and Destructor of the Quiet Time Alone. So peaceful moments beware, there is a new Superhero in town and I am cramming spaghetti into your new Blu-ray player.

I am Baby T-Rex

No more am I just Sebastian Thomas Hamilton, I am now Baby T-Rex. I roar, stomp around and am fifty hundred feet tall. I eat millions of bananas of yogurts. Baby T-Rex does not have to clean his room. Baby T-Rex does not need to put on shoes to go outside. Baby T-Rex does not need clean up his puzzles. Baby T-Rex does what he wants. And right now baby T-Rex wants a hug and a kiss.

Someday

Someday I will be able to touch the ceiling while jumping on the bed. Someday I will be able to lift my train table all by myself. Someday I will run so fast that the wind can’t catch me and I’ll move the world where I want it. Someday I will be big, strong and powerful. Someday.

My First Original Joke

Mom: And who else did we run into at the grocery store?
Me: Doctor Jones!
Mom: That’s right.
Me: I have another doctor.
Mom: That’s right. Do you remember her name?
Me: Doctor Liddle!
Mom: Very good. Your doctors are Doctor Jones and Doctor Liddle.
Me: And Doctor Big!

Why?

Why do I ask so many questions? Why am I always asking why? Why do you want to know?

Suppose you spent two long years immersed in a world in which you couldn’t understand anyone around you. Now suppose that you are fully reliant on those same people for your most basic of needs. Learning to communicate would be your top priority. And once you had developed the rudimentary means to do that, those two years of repressed questions would erupt like a long dormant volcano. So yes, I ask a lot of questions. But the world is a very complicated place, with many levels of nuance and distinct social norms. To which, please expect me to continue to bombard everyone with answering distance within everything that I could possibly want to know. Because hey, why shouldn’t I?

Sleeping Habits of a Young Hamilton

I am a great sleeper. Not to brag, but I lay down for my nap and bedtime by myself and go to sleep on my own. I am able to do this no matter what else is going on around me. Take last weekend as an example, Mommy put me in bed while Daddy and Papi where hammering, sawing, drilling and making all kinds of noise right outside my window. I just ignored it all and promptly passed out. No matter the atmosphere I tend to move around a great deal in my sleep. Here are so pictures mommy took today during nap time.

Lub oo

A day doesn’t go by where I am not amused by the shocked faces of my parents and grandparents when I utter a new word. It is funny to watch them when I call their names when they walk in the room or shout bye and lub-oo when it is time for jammas. I can now say the names of many of the things in my room, around the house and out in the world. It is much easier to make them understand what I want, now that I can tell them. I let them know that I prefer to have the yogurt drink Keepur with my breakfast rather than juss, that I want to have a beam or a cookay rather than dinner, how much I would like to go see the copie take off and land, and particularly to stob it when they are trying to rearrange my lines of cars or steal bites of my dinner.

As my vocabulary increases I can also share with them what I see, hear and feel. I can tell Daddy when he gets home from work that I saw the copie land and fly, that I told them bye and that it was lello even though it was really red and blue. I can tell Papi that I want him to get the car with the mote or Bam-ma to get out the paints. Soon I will be talking in complete sentences and they will never get me to be quiet.

Family

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. This is a good thing, because I have a lot of family. They stretch to both coasts of the United States, down into the Caribbean and all the over to parts of Europe. Some are within driving distance and some would require two or three plane flights just to hug hello. All of this is a benefit as home is where you are always welcome. And with my family spread out over half of the Northern Hemisphere, I have a lot of places that I can feel loved. The only downside is that I do not get to see some people in my family as often as I would like. To them, all I can offer is my distant love and a open invitation to come and visit. Because, after all, my home is where you are always welcome too.

No I do not want to say yes. No I do not want to say no. No I do not want to give you my opinion, no I do not want to not give you my opinion and no I do not want to be negative. I just want to say no. No to you, no to everything and no to me. No. No. No.

Unless you want to give me a cookie.

I Have the Power!

Last night I had trouble staying asleep. So after a while of trying, we decided to start over and turned the light on. I was still pretty worked up, so I decided to play with my toys for a bit until I calmed down. During that time Mom went for ice cream and Dad stayed to play with me. I did everything that I could to calm down. I rode my zebra, played with blocks, jumped into my ball pit and finally settled in on rolling one of my push toys back and forth across the floor.

All of this Dad seemed to approve of. So much so that he had gone to just lying on his back in the middle of the room. And it was from there that I heard his say, "NO!" as I ran my push toy across the wall and not the floor. Sure it's wood and heavy so it probably would have made marks, but I wasn't thinking about that at 11:30pm. Sometime during the end of his "NO!" I decided to spin around to show him that I was stopping, except I slipped. I must have hit the edge of the carpet, a wind must have caught me, or we could have had a small earthquake - I can't be too sure.

What happened next was both hilarious and sad. As I spun I took the push toy with me and as I fell with the toy, the weight of all of that wood and metal came full force around over my head and directly down on Dad. Now here is the funny part: Dad made a sound that I can only explain as the sound you would hear from a sick Yak getting kicked in the butt. I would say that he screamed like a girl, but I don't know of any female, outside of pregnant rhinoceroses, that could sound like that. So as he curled into a ball trying to repress words that he said he would teach me when I turn five, I realized that this whole incident had a down side: I didn't get it on film.

The Power of No

Not being able to fully articulate the exact verbiage that I would like to express during any particular situation, I’ve had to resort to allowing others to guess the exact desire in which I am having a trouble conveying. Thus I have found that the word "no", said ad nauseam, is my new modus operandi. It is not that I wish to be this obstinate; I just don’t have choice in the matter.

Goofy Individual

I am the very model of a goofy individual,
My movements are quite comical, while still very whimsical,
I’m quite adept at funny faces; many books I have read.
From reading to swimming classes, play is what I do instead.

I am the symbol of the proper childhood etiquette
Those who know me often praise me, I will happily admit
But I’m still humble because I have yet to learn arrogance
Even singing this to me increases my intelligence.

My learning process is still challenged chronologically
So puzzles to my Rock-a-Stack, all problems handled logically;
My learning is a daily thing, new memories I do obtain
If I had a fault it would be that my parents are clearly insane.

Everyone:
He beats on nearly everything because he’s awfully musical
He excels at mostly everything as long as it’s quite lyrical.

Off-Broadway Obstinance

The drama is real, the action is intense and tantrums will blow your mind. My full developed opinion is now showing at multiple locations. Don’t hesitate; run don’t walk, to your nearest patient expression - because you’re going to need it. Remember: this is a limited time offer that is only available for the next couple of years and will decrease in intensity as I learn to communicate and cope with my surroundings. So get your tolerance in check, compose that coolness and find your happy place, because this battle is going to be awesome!!!

Milestones

This last weekend I attended my second Bele Chere Festival Asheville, NC while staying at the Pines Cottages with Mom, Dad, Uncle Jahred, Aunt Erica and my cousin Kaiden. Last year, at five months old, I was not able to do much. During my first visit I was unable to walk or communicate; so I just took in what I could and left the rest for a future date.

It’s been a year now and things have changed. I can now walk, run and communicate, mostly through sign-language, and, most importantly, experience much more than I could a year ago. This year I ate everything that I could, walked around in heavy crowds, danced to music, saw all sorts of people and tried to grok as much of the art as I could. On Saturday we hiked the Craggy Gardens Trail (I only had to be carried a couple of times) and I hiked the last half a mile up Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, all by myself. On Sunday we visited Chimney Rock Park and played in the Rocky Broad River.

Mom said that she is not sure if we are coming back next year because a lot of things could change between now and then. Either way, I will always look forward to crossing milestones, especially when I get to do it in familiar places with lots of family around me.

Experiences & Adventure

There is a specific difference between experiences and adventure. With an experience you build on previous knowledge. It is finding something slightly different, realizing it as different and allowing it affect your choices later in life. An adventure goes beyond a simple experience. An adventure expands your knowledge in ways you might never have imagined. Or to put it to an analogy, if your mind were a house, experiences would be upgrades, repairs and general maintenance (fresh paint, a new deck…) whereas an adventure could add something like a new floor, expanded garage or even a guest house.

While both are important, your experiences will always greatly outweigh adventures, for the simple fact one cannot continuously expand horizons without stopping, or at least slowing, to comprehend where you are. You must keep the house up or the new additions won’t be worth as much as they should.

Being that I am only 17 months old, I have a steady stream of both experiences and adventures. A simple trip to the grocery store, a weekend away or a new toy/book adds to my understanding of the world around me. And the more I understand now, the more I have to expand throughout the rest of my life. You see, knowledge is one of the wonderful things in life that works exponentially. The more you learn, the more it teaches and inspires you to learn more. In other words, you must continuously build on what you know to know what you don’t know.