Saturday, June 12, 2004
As I was saying...
In the last few weeks, Boo has become quite verbal and seems tickled with himself as he experiments with various inflections and sounds, just like Max was doing at this stage. It took two more months before Max said his first word ("bubble") and another couple of months before he began to add words like dada and duck. By his second birthday, he had a vocabulary of a couple of hundred words and had begun to express himself in short phrases like "more milk" and "water cold." And then it seems that he made this dramatic leap and suddenly he's communicating original ideas and conjugating verbs and employing pronouns and prepositions and contractions as if he'd been speaking English all his life. Lots of days I listen in amazement and wonder, "Where was I when you learned THAT?"
Since Max started talking, I've kept a journal of words and phrases and sentences that he formulates. Here's a sampling from the last few weeks:
Max: "I got my face wet, mommy." Me: "How'd you do that, Max?" Max: "From the dog water." (Blech!)
[About 6:00 in the evening, upon entering the house from playing in the back yard] "What are we having for dinner, mom?" I did a doubletake to make sure Max hadn't turned 14 while he was outside.
[To our housekeeper/nanny Araceli, as I walked into the kitchen] "We call her MEL-O-NIE." Now that he knows I have a name, too, he calls me "Melanie" about a quarter of the time.
[Handing me his latest abstract expressionist masterpiece] "I made this painting for you, mommy."
[As we drove into our trainer's place and Max spied Lee on Max's favorite horse] "It's time for Daddy to get off J.J. so I can ride by myself."
[On our walk this evening] "I need to wear sunglasses so my eyes can be safe and I can see."
And last, but not least, my personal favorite:
[As I was tucking Max into bed] "Mommy, you're my best buddy."
Gloria Steinem said, "If you want children to grow up believing they have something important to say, listen to them." Listening and laughing--we're doing lots of both these days.
Since Max started talking, I've kept a journal of words and phrases and sentences that he formulates. Here's a sampling from the last few weeks:
Max: "I got my face wet, mommy." Me: "How'd you do that, Max?" Max: "From the dog water." (Blech!)
[About 6:00 in the evening, upon entering the house from playing in the back yard] "What are we having for dinner, mom?" I did a doubletake to make sure Max hadn't turned 14 while he was outside.
[To our housekeeper/nanny Araceli, as I walked into the kitchen] "We call her MEL-O-NIE." Now that he knows I have a name, too, he calls me "Melanie" about a quarter of the time.
[Handing me his latest abstract expressionist masterpiece] "I made this painting for you, mommy."
[As we drove into our trainer's place and Max spied Lee on Max's favorite horse] "It's time for Daddy to get off J.J. so I can ride by myself."
[On our walk this evening] "I need to wear sunglasses so my eyes can be safe and I can see."
And last, but not least, my personal favorite:
[As I was tucking Max into bed] "Mommy, you're my best buddy."
Gloria Steinem said, "If you want children to grow up believing they have something important to say, listen to them." Listening and laughing--we're doing lots of both these days.
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