Saturday, January 10, 2009

Out of the mouthes of babes, part III

Aidan: How old is Leo, Mommy?
M: He will be two very soon.
A: So he is one now?
M: Yes, he's one.
A: Oh. So Leo does not have a forehead (four head) he has a onehead. Isn't that kind of silly?

[Christmas Eve church service; approximately 1/2 hour past bedtime and counting. An exhausted Aidan is dressed for a (very minor) part in the gospel reading.]
Aidan: Mommy, I am tired of being an angel.

[Jeff is attempting to stitch up holes in his wool sweater while Aidan looks on.]
A: Daddy, why are there holes in your sweater?
D: Well, a moth got into our closet and decided to eat my sweater. You see, moths like to eat sweaters.
A: Oh. Well, do you know what I think? I think we should talk to Grandma or to Mommy, and ask them if they would make---
[At this point, Jeff is thinking, how nice! He's going to ask them to make me a sweater!]
--a sweater for the moths and the mosquitoes, and we can put it outside for them!!

[Aidan is an excellent counter, except he always skips fifteen. Always. Jeff was working on the number sequence with him...
D: Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen....
A: Oh! There's fifteen and there's saltine!! [as in the cracker]

Recently, Aidan had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He was beside himself with excitement. The morning of the sleepover, he bounded out of bed and began packing all the things he wanted to take with them. Completely unassisted, he hauled it all downstairs and piled it by the front door. He was relentless in talking to me about the sleepover, reminding me of it, asking me questions, telling me what they would do, telling Leo he would be gone... it was nearly driving me crazy. Later that afternoon, I had him on my lap and said to him, "Aidan, I am going to miss you tonight!" He looked me steadily in the eye, and without missing a beat he said, "Give me your hand." He kissed the middle of my palm and folded my fingers down and said, "Now you have a kissing hand. If you need me, just hold your hand to your cheek." This comes directly from the children's book The Kissing Hand, and in that moment, I don't know which was making me melt more - the fact that he was quoting literature and connecting to characters from books he reads, or the fact that he was giving me the sweetest kissing hand of my own!

Some of Aidan's favorite phrases:
"You want to see something really tricky?"
"Here's the plan."
"You never know..."
"forout" = without

And finally, Leo. While he hasn't quite mastered conversations yet, he is clear and explicit in his communication:
*High frequency words include: Me! Mine! Stop! Sure! Oh!
*He sings two songs, both warm ups that he hears us sing in choir. One is the "Leo" song, the other, the "Bumblebee song."
*He pretends to count, and still pronounces Aidan's name as "Sha Sha."
*He has about 60 spoken words, 15 signed words, and three sentences, my favorite of which is "Bumblebee Soup!" Roughly translated, this means "I want Honey Nut Cheerios with milk!"


Although he is a man of few words right now, sometimes Leo knows just the right word for the occasion. Recently at lunchtime, Aidan made a demand for more goldfish crackers. Jeff pretended he did not hear Aidan, and instead gave him a long look and turned away. Aidan began to protest when he was interrupted by Leo who loudly implored, "Pleeeease?!"

1 comment:

Nurse Jeff said...

I love this, I had forgotten about the One-head! I guess that means I've got to stop beating my 30-head against the wall and remember the cute little things they say...