Mouses and Leafs

We're getting some interesting word play. Last week, "five mouses," "throwed it," and "leafs" were uttered at three separate times by Dex (the last probably in reference to a hockey team rather than as the plural of leaf!). He's really picking up on the language rules.

Poop, poop, poop

A red letter day! When I picked up Dex from daycare, he had something very interesting to announce -- "pooped in toilet," he said. I exclaimed in delight. We then did the high five-down below-fist bump celebratory hand ritual, shook the tambourines (it was percussion hour at the daycare), and jumped up and down in joy. Judging by his big smile, he was awfully proud of himself, too, and appreciated the praise. Time to buy some big boy underwear for my son!

"Ciao baby"

That's the new phrase Dex picked up from Carmen when we visited her deli and butcher shop last Friday. He earned big points from Carmen when he correctly identified the package of pasta I held in my hand (orrecchietti) and that it means "little ears" in Italian. Carmen was so delighted she gave him a slice of ham which he, of course, devoured instantly.

Pomegranate

More words never, ever uttered to Jon while he was growing up:

"Okay, you don't like pomegranate this morning -- let's see if the kiwi is ripe yet."

Pronouns

It used to annoy me when people spoke about themselves in the third person and/or when they speak from the point of view of another being. I thought there was absolutely no excuse for people with serious pronoun deficiencies. Partially, I think, because it irks the editor in me. Too much repetition and too many passive sentences. But aha, oho, who's got pronoun problems now?

"Would Dexter like to have breakfast with Mommy," I'd ask Dex instead of "Would you like to have breakfast with me?" Throughout the day, I rarely say "I" or "me" or "you" to Dex.

A feminist analysis of this would probably say that this is contributing to my loss of identity but let's not go there for now and look at a more basic reason. Young kids don't get pronouns. They are barely aware of the difference between them and mommy and daddy. Think about it: the word "me" changes according to the person using it. When mommy uses it, it means mommy and when daddy uses it, it means daddy. What a strange word and quite a complex concept for a baby!

Part of the maturity experienced by the kid at the toddler stage is the growing awareness of this separation between them and caregivers -- a scary yet empowering time. I think understanding the concept of "I" and "me" precludes some understanding of volition, too, so as they get more aware of this separation plus their power to influence outcomes, the concept of "I" also starts to develop.

Back to pronouns, Dex said "me" the other day instead of "Dexter." I think he's starting to get it. He's certainly experimenting with the use of it so let's see where this goes. Sounds like mommy is really enjoying her little social science experiment.

Staging

Another one to file under quirky things my husband does. According to Jon, there is is this sweet spot on the kitchen counter. It's by the sink, at the lower right hand edge. I did not know about this special spot.

I think the first time I discovered a knife with a smear of peanut butter resting on that spot, I just automatically gave it a good rinse before putting it in the dishwasher. But then, it kept happening. Sometimes it's a water glass, sometimes a teaspoon, but often it is a butter knife, obviously used but just resting there at the edge, the blade part hanging over the sink, and the handle resting on the counter.

I seethed silently over this for a while, then one day, I snapped. Waving a knife caked with cream cheese, I screeched: "Honey, dirty dishes and flatware go in the dishwasher. Clean ones get put away or can drain on the drying rack!"

Given his reaction, I might as well have taken that knife and plunged it into his kidney. He was so hurt. "But, that's staging," he said, referring to that sweet spot.

Well, I have news for you, pal. There is no staging. It is binary: Clean. Not clean. Nothing in between!!

No, thanks

He is ever so polite. Instead of just saying "No!" as most toddlers do, he says "no, thanks." (His daycare teachers are doing such a good job of raising him.) He still says no a lot, but he is very polite about it. That interviewing technique of not asking yes/no questions I picked up from my previous life is coming in handy now, but I must admit I still make the mistake of asking the wrong questions. Honestly, these little guys do not miss a beat. If you ask the wrong question, you get their honest response and you don't get another chance to rephrase.

"Would you like to go upstairs to brush your teeth?"
"No, thanks."
"Let's go get your diaper changed and get you ready for school."
"No, thanks."
"Let's read that book later. Right now, we need to sit down for breakfast."
"No, thank you."
...and so on and so on.

Even under duress, this "no, thanks" pattern seems to continue. At the hospital, as he was getting an IV inserted, he kept telling the nurses "no, thanks, no, thanks, no thanks..." as he was crying his eyes out.

22 months

Less than two months before he turns two!

Here are the highlights for his 22-month post, mostly around the increasing dexterity and language fluency.

"Watch me do stuff"

He can string beads! For months, he's been playing with this string and wooden bead toy but he was not able to do it himself. He would try, but then he'd give the string back to me and say "Mommy's turn." I would hold the bead and he would put the string through. However, a couple of days ago, I left him on the floor with this toy, and sure enough, when I looked again, he had three beads strung through. He was ever so proud of himself, too. "Show Daddy," he'd say and walk around the house with his string of beads.

He loves jigsaw puzzles. His Nana gave him a puzzle at Thanksgiving and back then he would just pick up the pieces and twist the hanging bits off. Suddenly this month, he started to want to put the puzzle together and like most tasks involving pattern recognition, he's very good at it.

He's trying to put on his socks and shoes. He can pretty much take off his shoes, hat, gloves, and scarf by himself, but putting them on requires a bit more work. He's close to being able to put on his own shoes (thank goodness for velcro) and while he's an expert at removing socks, he's still working at putting it on.

"Listen to me speak"

Reading lots and lots and lots. He got several books for Christmas and what he likes to do is to sit down with one and have us read to him over and over again (can we say OCD?). He's memorizing it, you see.

The language skills continue to amaze us. He received several books this Christmas and he is especially fascinated by the Dr. Seuss ones from Ninong Richard. He is at this stage where he loves the sound of words so rhyming and saying nonsense words seems to amuse him very much.

He's telling jokes. Ask him about his joke and he will say "eaglePiper," and he'd laugh and laugh. He made up this "joke" one day while looking at his animal book. There was a picture of an eagle, and I guess somewhere nearby, he saw his favourite teddy bear, Piper. He put the two words together and that must have just sounded so hilarious to him. It's very cute. It's like he delivers the punchline without giving us the backstory. Oh, his second joke is "poop, poop, poop." He made that up while we were reading Dr. Suess's ABC book. It goes, "Big P, little p, what begins with P?" I guess he associated poop with "p."

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2009. Had a great pancake and bacon breakfast with my boys and we're lounging around trying to decide what to do today. It's minus 10 degrees outside but the sun is out so it might not be so bad. Maybe we'll take the little boy on a short ride in his brand new red wagon then play in the backyard a bit. Time to teach the boy how to make snow angels!

Happy New Year.