This morning, after my little rooster (AKA The King) woke me up before the sun, I made him a bottle.
As he lay in his crib, drinking the milk, I checked my email. He announced his displeasure that his morning bottle had come to an end, by yelling in dismay as loud as he could. He does this almost every morning. I retrieved it before he could hide it somewhere impossible to reach without moving furniture (how he manages this I know not) and took it outside to the sink. I began to prepare for a cup of coffee.
I went out into my mother’s kitchen to get a spoonful of that which I love most in the morning, and came back to my own kitchen. I put the saucepan of water on to boil, and returned to my room, where Mr. Lord was standing in his crib.
With perfect gravitas, and complete clarity he looked up and me and said, “doo doo”. I think I masked my surprise very well, but yes, there was definitely a shit smell in the air. I asked him, “Doo doo?”
“Doo Doo,” he said, perfectly serious and grabbed his butt for effect.
I prepared all the apparatus for the “change” and yes indeed folks, there was definitely doo doo.
So what does it mean?
It means my son is communicating with me in words. Words that both he and I understand.
I predict that once he starts to make more sense in his speech, that he will never stop talking (at least to me). He seems to get shy around strangers, and will cut down on his talking around them to the point you can’t believe its the same child who was breaking off your ear five minutes previous, but as soon as you get him alone again his babble resumes its steady stream.
What is happening now is that more words are making their way into clarity. For a long time, he called me Auntie Dayo. Then Auntie Ndela (or Auntie Deh Dah to be precise). I think he was just repeating what he heard, because at daycare, I am like a superstar. When I show up all the kids call out “Auntie Ndela!” and one little boy insisted I was Auntie Dayo. So for a while, that’s the only thing he said that made sense, because he repeated it in a near constant stream while he was playing, and didn’t seem to address it to anyone in particular.
That thankfully, has receded to now being a family in-joke. He still says Auntie Ndela once in a while, but he doesn’t get into those repetitive sessions that grate my nerves. He still doesn’t say Mummy,or Mama #160but he’s getting the hang of kissing (although he is selective and kisses only me. Heh!)
He still babbles constantly, and he calls his grandmother Gra Gra. He calls me Deh Dah and my brother…. something…. not sure yet what it is.
This morning though, I couldn’t discount it as merely babble. He told me he had “doo doo’d” and there was doo doo, so as far as I can see it its the beginning of REAL verbal communication with my child.
I like it fine, do ya. (Actual cleaning of the shit aside of course.)
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