Monday, April 18, 2005
Won't Babee be surprised?
Boo has an interesting vocabulary for a child of 18 months. Some of the words are ones that you might expect--short, with easily pronouncable consonants: duck, hat, cat, hot, cow, ball, book, baby. Then there's a constellation of words, all of which Boo pronounces "oosh." These include juice, shoe, horse and orange. I have to rely on body language (handing me his tennis shoe or sippy cup) or accompanying animal noise to decipher his meaning. And then there are the suprising words--backpack, notebook, umbrella, crayon, waffle--that leave me wondering what other words he may know but just isn't bothering to say.
I'm also curious about what's missing from Boo's vocabulary. So far, in the Food category, Boo is content to use cracker ("crock"), which can signify either crackers or cereal, and juice, which also means "I'm thirsty," since he uses this while tugging at the hem of my shirt. ("Banana", which was one of his earliest words, has been tabled for awhile.) Perhaps he's simply being pragmatic: "Cracker and juice produce results, so I might as well economize." Come to think of it, that theory synchs up nicely with Boo's disposition.
The words and related noises that get the most play around our house are those related to animals. Boo has recently added to his repertoire of animal sounds a chirpy "ribbit" and "bop-a-doo," which you might recognize as belonging to a rooster. After I've put Boo down for bed or when he first wakes up, I often hear him scrolling through his verbal menagerie: "Cat, meow, cow, moo, woof, oosh, neigh, baaaaa."
For reasons unbeknownst to me, cats seem to have captured Boo's imagination right now. When we're reading Good Night Moon, Boo will point and shout out "Cat!" at every page on which the kittens appear. Last week, as we pulled into the driveway of Nancy's house in Madisonville, Boo began to exclaim excitedly, "Cat!" A few days ago, I came across a picture of Nancy in a publication from Max's school. When Boo caught sight of her, his response was "Cat!" And on Friday, while Max and I attended chapel at his school, Nancy supervised Reed in the back of the sanctuary. As we were leaving, she asked if I could hear Boo periodically yell, "Cat!" She may be Grandma Nancy to Max, but evidently she's Catwoman to Boo.
With Max as his role model, it's no surpise that Boo has an intense interest in animals. By far Max's favorite game is "What Animal Am I?" We usually play in the car using audio clues, but one evening we spontaneously added a visual component. It started when Max walked through the den on all fours, roaring, and I asked if he was being a bear. I don't think he expected me to respond in kind.
I stretched my neck as far as it would reach and began munching on imaginary leaves.
"You're a giraffe!"
"Yes!"
Max stood on one leg, bending the other one at the knee.
"Are you a flamingo?"
"Yes!"
I sat up straight, turned my head from side to side, blinked my eyes and tried to look wise. "Whoot. Whoot."
"You're an owl!"
"Right!"
Max began to slither across the rug.
"Are you a snake?"
"No! I'm an animal that has no arms and no legs."
"Are you a worm?"
"YES!"
"Good one!"
I crouched on all fours, shifted my weight to my hands and kicked one leg into the air. "Hee-haw," I brayed.
"You're a donkey with a broken leg!"
"A donkey with a broken leg?! How could you tell that?"
"Because one of your legs goes up and the other one sticks out the other way!"
Over the weekend, Max was making an inventory of people and their pets: "We have two pets. Harley and Cassie are dogs. Grandma Nancy was one pet. Sam is a cat. Babee doesn't have any pets. Zero pets. Mommy, Babee needs a pet. We need to get her a fish!" Lucky for Babee, Mother's Day is just around the corner.
I'm also curious about what's missing from Boo's vocabulary. So far, in the Food category, Boo is content to use cracker ("crock"), which can signify either crackers or cereal, and juice, which also means "I'm thirsty," since he uses this while tugging at the hem of my shirt. ("Banana", which was one of his earliest words, has been tabled for awhile.) Perhaps he's simply being pragmatic: "Cracker and juice produce results, so I might as well economize." Come to think of it, that theory synchs up nicely with Boo's disposition.
The words and related noises that get the most play around our house are those related to animals. Boo has recently added to his repertoire of animal sounds a chirpy "ribbit" and "bop-a-doo," which you might recognize as belonging to a rooster. After I've put Boo down for bed or when he first wakes up, I often hear him scrolling through his verbal menagerie: "Cat, meow, cow, moo, woof, oosh, neigh, baaaaa."
For reasons unbeknownst to me, cats seem to have captured Boo's imagination right now. When we're reading Good Night Moon, Boo will point and shout out "Cat!" at every page on which the kittens appear. Last week, as we pulled into the driveway of Nancy's house in Madisonville, Boo began to exclaim excitedly, "Cat!" A few days ago, I came across a picture of Nancy in a publication from Max's school. When Boo caught sight of her, his response was "Cat!" And on Friday, while Max and I attended chapel at his school, Nancy supervised Reed in the back of the sanctuary. As we were leaving, she asked if I could hear Boo periodically yell, "Cat!" She may be Grandma Nancy to Max, but evidently she's Catwoman to Boo.
With Max as his role model, it's no surpise that Boo has an intense interest in animals. By far Max's favorite game is "What Animal Am I?" We usually play in the car using audio clues, but one evening we spontaneously added a visual component. It started when Max walked through the den on all fours, roaring, and I asked if he was being a bear. I don't think he expected me to respond in kind.
I stretched my neck as far as it would reach and began munching on imaginary leaves.
"You're a giraffe!"
"Yes!"
Max stood on one leg, bending the other one at the knee.
"Are you a flamingo?"
"Yes!"
I sat up straight, turned my head from side to side, blinked my eyes and tried to look wise. "Whoot. Whoot."
"You're an owl!"
"Right!"
Max began to slither across the rug.
"Are you a snake?"
"No! I'm an animal that has no arms and no legs."
"Are you a worm?"
"YES!"
"Good one!"
I crouched on all fours, shifted my weight to my hands and kicked one leg into the air. "Hee-haw," I brayed.
"You're a donkey with a broken leg!"
"A donkey with a broken leg?! How could you tell that?"
"Because one of your legs goes up and the other one sticks out the other way!"
Over the weekend, Max was making an inventory of people and their pets: "We have two pets. Harley and Cassie are dogs. Grandma Nancy was one pet. Sam is a cat. Babee doesn't have any pets. Zero pets. Mommy, Babee needs a pet. We need to get her a fish!" Lucky for Babee, Mother's Day is just around the corner.
1 Comments:
The thought of Babee receiving a fish from her much beloved grandson on Mother's Day made me laugh. Actually, it was a somewhat evil little chuckle.
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