Have I Told You?

I suppose this probably falls into the negativity and snark category, but...

One of the benefits of chatting up the mothers at the playground is socializing. I get to talk to real adults and enjoy the pleasantries. Another is the normalization of the experience. I get to feel like not such a Rowr! Fee fi fo fum! villain for now and again yelling at my kid. Man, some of them folks is way more villainous than me. I. Than I. And the third benefit? I get to fill up with sinful pride because my kid's a friggin' genius!

Yep. Genius. Certified. Your child is five months older than mine and doesn't really have any meaningful words yet? Oh, mine says a bunch of words. Burp and toot. Excellent sense of humor on that kid. Toot particularly, and his own toots even more so. And gargle. He says gargle. He pronounces it "gah-goo," but he uses it in the proper context. His Mama's a bit of a mouthwash-aholic, you know. He says Mama, too. "Mama" means "more," too, but usually it means Mama. About half an hour before she comes home every day, he asks me, "Mama?" And I say, "no, not yet." But boy, the "mamamamamama!" that comes out of him when she does come home. And then they go gargle. And "boom-boom" for blueberry. And "bye bye," and "night night." And "bye" for the birdies that congregate on the feeder in the backyard. And cheese. And juice. And car. And doggie. And I could go on, but I don't want you to feel inadequate.

And speaking of doggies, whenever we read We're Going on a Bear Hunt, on every page, I ask him where the doggie is. And do you know, at least half the time, he points right at that doggie? And then he giggles in the most charming way when I say, "woof woof!" He has an excellent sense of humor about animal noises as well as bodily noises. And speaking of animal noises, when I sing "Old MacDonald," he says "bock!" when I mention that Old MacDonald had a chicken, even before I say it. And "Mmmmmmmmmm" for the cow. Not even one yet. Did I mention he's not quite one yet?

And yes, he's walking. For about a month and a half now. Yes, he's very steady, thank you for noticing. Yes, he's quite the climber. It is exhausting watching him all the time to make sure he doesn't fall, but that's the price of genius, ha ha!

He signs, too. Did I mention that? We haven't been keeping up with the signing so much since he speaks so well, but yesterday, when I asked him if he wanted to take a bath, he made the sign for "bath." Unprompted! All on his own! And I haven't signed that to him in probably two or three weeks! A genius, that kid! Genius!









I wonder why no one calls us for a playdate?