Winter 2015

This season seemed to be all about language and verbal development.  Almost every night at the dinner table featured a recap of “what Josef said today…”  For the longest time he called himself “Beebee” (baby), and then later “Baaybyosef.”  But sometime this winter he made the transition to “I”.  I’m not sure what, if anything, that signifies in terms of mental/linguistic development, but it is kind of interesting to contemplate the growth and changes that go on inside a young mind as it learns the abstract concept of First Person.  We also hear “you,” “he,” and “she” a lot more now too, so something clicked somewhere along the way.

I guess he feels comfortable enough with language that he’s ready to start bending the rules, letting his inherent silliness come out.  He has become quite fond of making up words.  He also likes to take a song and substitute silly words or nonsense for some of the lyrics, usually pausing to shoot me a sly look to make sure I have noticed.  (“Twinkle Twinkle Little Trashcan, How I Wonder What You…  Bashcan!”)  It’s become impossible to get him to sing the correct words lately!

Speaking of singing, I’ve noticed a growing ability to follow the melodies of the songs, as opposed to just the words and rhythm.  He still of course has a pretty limited range and accuracy, but it is still fun to watch this awareness and skill develop.  I’ve also realized that he knows most of the words to the songs I sing him at bedtime; it was such a sweet moment to hear him singing along with me for the first time.

Yes he is quite chatty.  My favorite moments are when he is talking to himself–narrating his activities, or amusing himself, or sometimes rambling about something as he is waiting to fall asleep.  Some of the turns of phrase I find especially amusing are his use of the query “shall we..?” which he no doubt picked up from the teachers at school, and his adamant cry of “I’m having it!” when we try and take something away from him.  And of course every bath time ends with him flinging the door open and charging into the living room hollering “Nudo!!!”

He is quite fixated on having his words mirrored back, and is incessantly requesting us to repeat what he just said back to him.  He does this with a sort of hybrid “do it/try it” word that sounds like “dallit.”  Thus, we hear the phrase “Mama dallit?” about 300 times a day, usually elided right after his initial statement:  “One trashcan is tipped over, one trashcan is standing up Mama dallit.”  At which point you need to repeat what he said, or face a barrage of “dallits?”  It is always requested in such a sweet earnest voice that it’s hard to resist.

Physically he is really enjoying dancing and climbing.  He is learning how to kick and throw and catch, but doesn’t really understand that their might be a greater context for doing so.  He likes to throw the ball to anywhere but you.  He still loves trashcans, trash trucks, trains, and backhoes.  He is also just learning how to play with legos, and likes to stack one on top of another in a giant tower, until it becomes unstable and topples.  At which point his despair is visceral.  It was during one of these engineering sessions that I was able to sit and quietly work a crossword puzzle uninterrupted for TWENTY WHOLE MINUTES in silence.  I cannot overstate the excitement I experienced.  It is still very hard to imagine that a time will come when he regularly entertains himself, or just hangs out in the yard or his room playing.  And then some day he will be 15 and I’ll be pleading just to have twenty minutes of time together.