These past several weeks, as usual, have introduced me to worlds more fun than the weeks before. Isn’t it the way? There more he grows the more I grow attached to this little one, the more he becomes something familiar and wonderful to me.
When we went to the shore last week to visit my sister-in-law, little L had come down with that nasty coxsackie (See my previous post). What I didn’t inform you was, while being in his most irritable state in weeks, a few new words came to dominate his vocabulary. Last month I picked him up a copy of Bill Martin/Eric Carle’s Polar Bear Polar Bear, What do you Hear? a book which I would recommend overwhelmingly for any toddler. The brightness of the colors immediately draws children to the animals and the simple story of children seeing animals at the zoo. And the bright purple walrus is what grabbed my little L. The minute I pointed to the walrus and mimicked how loudly he was “bellowing,” the little one shouted “Wall-wuss!” And again and again he exclaimed, loving the odd word.
When we brought him to my sister-in-law, who dotes on her little as a pet, she turned “Walrus” into his favorite game. As he slammed the bed with his hands yelling “Daaah!” she would say “Walrus” and shake her head from side to side. He began to run back and forth in the room (ok, in any room) exclaiming “Aaaaiii . . Walrus!” I could just melt, it makes me smile so much to think about it. He began to call his Buaji “Baby” because she always looks at him and exclaims, “Baby!” and when I hear him saying these things I just imagine how much he must think about his relatives.
The funny thing about the whole thing is how much he must think about them. When he was going through his viral infection his misery was apparent to us, but in the middle of the night, feverish and tired he feebly awoke in the night and said “Walrus” and went back to sleep. Apparently Mr. Sandman was trying to give him some happy dreams of his aunt. Of course these days, the main thing that he says when he wakes up in the middle of the night is “Dhoo dhoo,” the Hindi word for milk. This nursing mama is tired but at least now I know what he is asking for, and he is asking for it clearly!
—-
So a week has passed since I wrote that last excerpt . . . aside from T traveling often and me being busy with work and baby, this three week stretch has posed bigger challenges than we have had throughout our marriage. We are looking for a new home, and in the mdist of all of this we all came down with a terrible bug and have not felt ourselves most of this week. Thankfully things seem to be quieting down and going back to their normal state. I hope that this weekend proves a little more relaxing. In other news, little L has come up with even *more* words . . I know, is it possible? (Ok I know it is, at least I hope it is; we are still in an in-between phase where I can figure out some of what he is saying but he still gets frustrated as he communicates to me) . . . so his new words this week in between fits of tears and cuddliness include “happy,” a dedication to every item being the color “yellow,” “wolf,” and “aaaaooooo!” (the sound of the wolf). He learned about wolves from his dad and his grandfather. He is finally starting to get back to his normal self, which at this point is starting to get towards the “terrific twos,” in other words . ..tantrums when he cannot get his exact way! All the time he simply wants to knock things down, whether it be his food, his toys, and when he is tired, his books. When he does not get to knock things down, he gets upset at me and then the whole face wrinkles into such a sad and angry expression. L receives a one minute time out during which I try to give him time to contend with his fate and then to remain calm for about a minute, and it doesn’t seem to be working out perfectly, because when I return him back to normal activities and give him the opportunity to have a plate with minimal food in front of him. No he does not have to eat, but he cannot knock it down . .well, his hand reaches out as if to THWAP!! and then I know it’s time to do something else, perhaps bed. Bedtimes takes awhile these days but considering that he’s gotten sick twice in the past three weeks I’m trying to go easy on him; he simply doesn’t feel that good all the time!
Anyway, here’s hoping that things settle out a bit and that we get to enjoy the rest of summer. Have a good night and if there are any topics of conversation desired, rather than my simple ramblings, let me know so that I can get researching and producing useful documents for you!