Today’s post will feature my little toddler’s communication, as I stare at the tornado of books strewn across our living room. No, we don’t have a ton of books, maybe 20 or 30 for children. It just isn’t practical for us to keep a ton of books around when L has a great time looking at 5 or 6 of them, although I look forward to the day when we have a library in close proximity and are able to keep more books in our home. But for now, L is very happy and loves touch and feel books the most, especially his “That’s Not my” series books.
But in the midst of enjoying books today, L showed great determination to make sure that I selected the reading material of his choice. Whereas he used to point only sightly aimlessly toward the mass of toys in the corner, and leave me to figure out what he wanted, today, after being frustrated at my poor response to his animated pointing, took it upon himself to squirm out of my grasp and march to his “toy corner” (i.e. our coffee table which now houses all his toys). Once there, he proceeded to pick up each book one by one, examine it, and toss it to the side if it wasn’t what he was looking for. One book, two books, not this one, not that one . .he must have gone through 8 books that were lying on top of a stack when, YES he arrived at the book of his choice.
The winner? Dear Zoo.
L simply loves unfolding each animal cage down to reveal the random “pet” sent to the writer of the book. His favorite animals are the lion (to which he declares a menacing “Raaaarrrrrrr”), the monkey (his doe eyes look up at me as his lips purse together for an “ooh, ooh, ooh!”), and the doggie at the end of the book (“Bowwow! (or “Boh whoa” in L-speak)!” Bowwow was his first animal sound, followed quickly by the roar of the lion. Since these initial few animal sounds he has picked up more: the ribbit of the frog, the buzzing of bees (which for him sounds more like raspberries), the chirping of birds, to which he excitedly says, “Bir!!”. It’s all too much, coming too fast. The most fun sound we hear from L? “MeeeeYOW!” his exclamation when he sees a cat . . and also when he sees a cow. We’ll work on that one. The rapidity of a toddler’s communication skills amazes me.
But the desire to read Dear Zoo didn’t last long. Almost immediately he was going back to One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish as well as several other special books – including a Thomas Lift-the-flap book. Each time he would pick up a different book deciding to listen to pages 2-3 of this book, pages 16-20 of another book. It’s all directed by him and what he wants. This makes it no small wonder that the inability to always have what you want ultimately frustrates toddlers and leads them into the rollicking world of tantrums. Hopefully that phase won’t come anytime soon, and once it does I can only pray that it passes quickly!