May The Fork Be With You

Jamie has recently become obsessed with toy forks, spoons and knives. He is very particular about carrying one (or more) of them around with him at all times. At church on Sunday a pair of elderly ladies in the pew behind us were commenting on his fork:
"Oh, how cute. He has a fork," said the first.
"He what?" asked the other, obviously a little hard of hearing.
"He has a FORK!" the first woman hissed.
Jamie fusses and cries if he drops his fork or if it's taken away during meals (I know that doesn't make sense - to take a fork away during a meal - but he just gets it all icky with half-chewed food when he puts it in his mouth). He also beams with pleasure when it's given back. Is his security object, indeed, a fork? He'd rather have that than a soft blanket, a well-loved stuffed animal, or a soothing pacifier? It's somewhat disturbing.

Ages Again

Later, Caity approached me and asked, "What number does bunny have?" I thought, Bunny? We don't have a bunny (We'd already established that the kitty has the number 6). So I asked her which bunny. She said, "That bunny," and pointed behind me. A little startled at the thought of a random bunny in my basement, I turned and saw what she was indicating - a forlorn stuffed animal bunny, facedown on the floor. "Umm... that bunny has the number 1," I said, fumbling for the correct response. I have to confess that I was somewhat insulted that she asked about numbers for everyone she knew, including Mr. Lonely Stuffed Bunny, but she never asked about ME...

Ages

Just now Caity and I were talking about how old people are. Rather than asking, "How old is ___?" Caity chooses to phrase it as: "What number does ___ have?" So we talked about how she has the number 3, and Jamie has the number 1. Then she asked, "What number does Daddy have?" I told her 33, which she was impressed by. So now if you ask her how old Daddy is, she will cry triumphantly, "Firty-free!"

Dental Drama

Caity had her first dentist appointment this morning. It went about as well as I'd expected it would - hesitation, followed by crying, followed by screaming. To give her credit, though, she did better than many kids (or so sayeth the dentist), and didn't bite or kick anyone. She cheered right up when offered a selection from the "prize drawer" and was all smiles from there on out. I have to mention that while we were leaving, another unfortunate soul was screaming his lungs out in a back room... and this was AFTER he'd been sedated. They might want to consider investing in some better sound-proofing technology; it's probably not a good idea for kids in the waiting room to hear what's in store for them.

Jamie Gives Us the Finger

Being the ever-anxious mother that I am, I have decided to worry about Jamie's lack of vocabulary. Currently, he uses no words; instead, he employs a Syllable Array to remark upon things: D! Bah! Bow! This is cute and all, but the SAT looms a mere 16 years away and there's no time like the present to start cramming for it.

To start the lessons, during dinner last night we began with a simple query: "Where's Dada?". The correct response to this would have been "Dada!" (we also would have accepted "Da"). Dada happened to be sitting directly across from Jamie, so we hoped this visual cue would help provide the answer. Instead of replying, though, Jamie simply pointed at Greg.

This was not quite the answer we were looking for, but we felt it was an acceptable response and praised Jamie accordingly.

The 4th!

Today is the 4th of July - historically, it is a day to celebrate the triumph of our ancestors over the tyrannical British. This celebration typically takes the form of fireworks, BBQs, parties and carnivals. So what are we doing right now? Eating stale crackers & cheese and watching "The Empire Strikes Back".

Jamie turned 1 yesterday. The occasion was marked by him repeatedly demonstrating his new trick - grinding and clacking his teeth together. The sound he produces is truly spine-shivering.

A Typical Conversation

Yesterday, my neighbor, Teisha, came over to borrow something. Here is the conversation Caity and I had after she left:

Caity: "She's going to put Sarah down for a nap." (Sarah is Teisha's 16 month-old).
Me: "Oh, probably."
Caity: "Sarah's been crying."
Me: "Yep, you're probably right." (I've lost interest already.)
Caity: "And there's a raccoon in the house!"
Me: ?