Week of May 28, 2003
Now that Owen can say "I want park" we're even more likely to have a field trip after dinner. We go most of the time that the weather is decent, and now we bring a towel so "decent" means not actively raining. Owen's interjections just push us out the door a little faster. It was my turn to do the circuit, and Owen was all over the place -branching out from his swing fixation to stare at the basketball players, do a turn on the slide, and gaze at any available dogs. There is a cement area he's fond of, where they keep picnic tables out of the sun. I'm not sure why he likes it - the step up to the cement? The shade? The sound the rocks make when he drops them on the hard floor?I saw a caterpillar there and I was worried he'd step on it while he was running around. Owen was near and I pointed it out to him, because it was kind of a neat thing, crawling with an undulating motion. I've always been intrigued by these caterpillars that come in late May. As I was telling him that we'd have to be careful to avoid the caterpillar so that we didn't squish it, he reached out his foot and squished it.
I felt a twinge of guilt. Owen just smiled and ran off. Actually, he only squished it some - enough to be terminal, and I should have speeded up the process with my own foot. I couldn't bring myself to do it, and just left it as I followed Owen on his next adventure. His first taking of a life, a non-event to him! Just now I quickly trolled the internet to find out what kind of critter it is, and now that I see it's an Eastern Tent Caterpillar, I guess I can say it's not the end of the world that he killed it. After all, we can't all be Jains, and I like shade trees a lot more than caterpillars.
Owen's been reveling in his language. It's such a treat for him to express his wants and desires. He loves the feeling of mastery that effective interaction provides. A few weeks ago he started calling me "Mama" in earnest, and Scott "Dada" (okay, it's a year late, what of it!). For so long, I yearned to hear him call my name. Now in the morning, when it's Scott who gets up with him first (at 5 or 5:30), my joy is dimmed when I hear him at the bottom of the stairs, calling out "Mama, mama, mama!"
"I want" x, y and z. Park. Toys. Kitty cat. Thomas. Water. He latched on to this phrase in the blink of an eye. While some words are getting second syllables (Noah has moved from "No" to "No-wah" and Baby is now "Bay-bee" vs. "Bay") and some things just are two syllables ('back-pack), many things are entrenched as single syllables. Thomas is "Ta!" Birds are "Dee" and Elephant is "Eh or Ehl."
He makes elephant noises (with requisite trunk motions) at random times. I understand it when he sees the faucet in the tub - it looks like an elephant trunk. And I understand it when we use the word trunk in a non-elephant context. But many times, he just makes the noise in the back seat, or when the mood takes him. Maybe it's just a fun noise to make, with a good hand gesture as part of it.
Owen does an excellent cat noise. It's not the standard "Meow" but an excellent imitation of an actual cat's meow. I suspect it's been helped by our Beatrix Potter Play-a-sound book, which features some excellent cat noises. I'm always impressed when he does it. From the other room, it's easy to mistake it for an actual cat.
He also has been saying "stuck!" a lot. He'll get himself stuck on purpose or he'll toss things to get them stuck (notably his balls behind the couch, because he wants us to get the yardstick out). I think this is an extension of the endless "accidents" he causes for his trains. "Oh no! Poor Percy!" Poor Wa (water). Poor Ta (Thomas). Poor Bah (bottle).
It's wonderful to know now what he wants (at least some of the time). In the early morning, when he's running around, he can tell us "I want water" - which we sometimes don't get on the first round, oblivious as we are, and he has to add some frantic gesture toward the back of the back pack. He almost always wants a drink of water when we pick him up from daycare, and it always gives him a thrill to put it back in himself. Often there will be some hand clapping, a smile and a big "Yay!" How can you not reward a kid putting things away?
He's also been laughing when I compliment on him on the long trains he's making. I'm not sure why that compliment, in particular, pleases him so. I love watching his face light up. He's very particular about what the composition of the train is, though they look a bit random to me. Sometimes I'll add things when he's not looking, and he'll scrupulously remove my additions, when he returns. He seems to have progressed from the endless crashes ("Oh no") to making longer and longer trains, or having trains side by side. He still likes it when the go over the edge, but it's not the steady refrain that it was a few weeks ago.
Another aspect of his language that I'm enjoying is his listening and responsiveness to what we say. He's been such a tabula rosa, it's fun watching the cogs turning in ways he can express. Although he often wants what he wants when he wants it, I feel I can offer him explanations and watch his demeanor change. If we need to do a few things before we get to what he wants, he'll flail, feeling like we're ignoring him. Now I can explain what our plans our, and the order in which we're doing things, and when I say "Okay?" he'll parrot back "Okay." What thrills me is the way his body will relax when he understands what I'm describing. I think he realizes we're working on things and he can relax and let it go. I find this thrilling.
It's less thrilling when he doesn't get what he wants, but that's part of life too. Fortunately, he's still relatively distractible. I know we're on borrowed time with this, because he's a stubborn guy, and showing signs of a good memory. A time will come when he'll stay on the topic long past the point we could wish. For now, we can distract him.
I keep running into people at the park, and it's almost always the same thing when they hear that he's 2 (almost): "that's a wonderful age." It's refreshing to hear parents say that, because so often the focus is on the contrary nature of toddlers, and their willfulness. I don't think there could be anything more exciting than to watch Owen discovering the world with unbridled joy, and facing it all with an exuberance that's contagious.
Or perhaps this is just foreshadowing of what lies ahead, and these are the comments of parents who know what's down the road…
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