I did not have to watch NotMyBaby yesterday or today. This unforseen break from babycare is courtesy of Patches breaking out in an all over body rash. Fortunately I now have almost 11 years worth of experience with rashes on children. This one isn’t alarming, it just appears to be a wierd viral rash which accompanies his cold. He isn’t even acting sick, just a little crankier than usual. Most serious childhood illnesses involve high fevers and a complete lack of playing. I told this to NMB’s mom, but he’s her only baby and she likes to play things safe.
Yesterday I used my free time for clothing inventory. I finished going through all the boxes of clothes that I have waiting for my kids to grow. Now I have a list of exactly what I have waiting for them in various sizes. More importantly, I know what I DON’T have. That becomes my “looking for” list. The clothing inventory is an annual event and takes about an hour per child. In theory I could be using my inventory sheets all year and adding new items as I acquire them. That would save me from the annual inventory event, but I always forget or lose the inventory paper. I’ve also discovered that it is good for me to actually handle all the clothes at least once a year so that I have a feel for the colors, textures, and styles of clothing that are waiting. Little tally marks on the page can’t provide that.
Today not only is NMB absent, but Gleek has preschool. This means it is a perfect morning for me to take Patches and run various errands. I like shopping with Patches. He keeps me company, stays fairly close, and makes amusing observations about the world. He is a good shopping buddy. I like having the individual time with him and I don’t get it very often now that I babysit every weekday morning. I expect today’s conversations will include the words “totally” and “ultra” only he pronounces them “todawwy” and “Uwtwa” they are is favorite words right now. I think he learned them from Link. When Kiki was 2 I knew exactly where she learned every single word in her vocabulary, that is not true for Patches. Patches has so many other sources for input that the best I can do is make guesses if I even bother to wonder at all.
My son popped out the other day with “you F*ing thing*…. I had no doubt of the source for that one, he told me. “Dad says it!”
Todawwy and Uwtwa are way cuter.
I miss the cute still-learning-the-language talk; Munchkin developed a precise speech pattern so early that it didn’t last long. His teacher at school described it very well when she said “I love talking to him. It’s like he’s a school kid who snuck into my class by accident.”
Ah, well, at least he hasn’t yet forgotten how to giggle.
The other day SoccerGirl (4) was taking the paper off of a crayon and I told her she shouldn’t because then we wouldn’t be able to read what color it was and she told me, “Mommy, you’ll get used to it.”
She also used the phrase, “Practice makes perfect.”
Four going on Fourteen?
My son has been described by other mothers like this:
“He’s like an old Jewish man.”
“He’s like a middle aged man in a little body.”
I took him to get pizza one night and as we walked in the door of the pizza place he breathed in deeply and said, “Ahhh, I love this aroma!”
I guess as the oldest he’s hung out with us adults a little too much…:)
Now this, this I can relate to. Munchkin didn’t really talk at first, and I realized I was using too many words at him. He clearly understood me, and he did speak, but didn’t use much language until I scaled back on the complexity of phrases, etc. Instead of “Would you like dinner now?” it became “Hungry?” It helped, clearly, but within a couple of months I went back to my “normal” speech patterns.
The day that I knew I could just start talking to my son again, with some limitations, was the day that he told the Director of my department “please don’t touch me. Go back to your office like a good girl.” He was 30 months old. I figured if he could be politely bossy and be so very coherent, he could handle normal conversation.
Now… well, he told me this morning “I would appreciate two cold waffles in a nakin (napkin) and some apple juice, please.” He’s 3. I’m in so much trouble. Soon, he’ll be out-verbalizing me.. if he’s not there already.