Thursday, May 17, 2007

Captain Adventure Sez ‘I wan’some’

Captain Adventure is finally starting to talk. It feels as though coming home from daycare pulled out a cork, and out popped a whole bunch of words and phrases – or as if he went into ‘deep freeze’ at eighteen months and is now thawing out and carrying on with his journey.

He has learned to say, “I want some!” when he sees somebody with something good – like a sister with a cookie or a juice box.

He doesn’t just say, calmly and clearly, “I want some.” His eyes widen impossibly. He begins bouncing up and down. And he shrieks, “I wan’some I wan’some I wan’some I wan’some I wan’some!” in a squeaky, high, shrill voice. He also points, tugs at the hem of my shirt, shrieks if he thinks he doesn’t have my attention, and occasionally attempts to swarm up me like I’m his personal jungle gym in an attempt to get closer to the object of his desire.

You know, you spend two years trying to get the kids to walk and talk…then you spend the rest of their lives trying to get them to sit down and shut up.

We’ve got ‘more’, and ‘outside’, and are playing the ‘nose, ears, eyes’ game. He’s still a little fuzzy on the concept of proper names (although there is now a distinction between the sound ‘daddy’, which can mean anything or nothing, and calling for daddy, which comes out as ‘the daddy’) and doesn’t think to ask for ‘juice’ when he’s thirsty. But every day seems to bring some new word or other to him, so I don’t think it will be long.

When we went to the playground earlier this week, he imperiously pulled me by the hand to the swings, pointed at them and said firmly, “I wan’some – go! Go! GO!”

He’s still got a long way to go to catch up to the ‘average’ almost-three year old, but the progress is encouraging. He’s still way behind his peers, but more and more words are coming out of his mouth; and for bonus points, many of them make sense.

Still a momma’s boy, though. Strangers can only be regarded from the safety of Mommy’s arms, and really it is better all around at parties if she just sits down in order to provide Himself with a safe, comfortable viewing platform from which to ogle all those Other Humans Who Are Not My Family. Eventually he warms up and will play with the other kids or attack the snack tray, but lordy it can really take a while. Daddy is an OK substitute for a little while, but he lacks that essential je ne sais quoi so Mommy had better be ready at any moment to have him urgently climbing up her, pursued by other children or sisters or GADS some crazy auntie or other who wants {gak, choke} KISSES!

Kisses from Mommy, however, are OK. Usually. Unless he’s, you know, busy. Because it’s still a lot of work, being Captain Adventure…

Snuggle partner

3 comments:

froggiemeanie said...

I'm delighted to hear it. He's such a cute little fella. They say the craziest things sometimes. On the weekend mine had a potty success and exclaimed "Look Mommy! Look! That's the biggest poop I've ever seen!!!". I thought I was going to choke.

Anonymous said...

Oh, what a cutie! My 15 year old son is still snuggly sometimes, too. Unless, you know, he's busy destroying zombies or building civilizations online.

Science PhD Mom said...

A snuggle bug!! You lucky woman! My DD is not a snuggle bug, although I have high hopes with DS. He is too little yet to tell, though. My DD has come around and will occasionally ask for snuggles, but oh to get them on a regular basis. No, Miss Independent does things by herself, TYVM. And now you have another window in what goes on in his head. Averages aside, every kiddo moves along at their own pace. Kudos for giving him his time to figure it all out on his own--albeit from the safety of Mommy's lap. :)