A Vocabulary Rooted In The Barnyard

It is clear to me that the vocabulary of animals is very simple. Why else would the foundation of Elliott’s vocabulary develop with the repetition of barnyard noises? I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that a horse says “hee”, a duck says “wack wack”, the sheep says “ba” and the cow says “MMMM”. We were quizzing him on these noises the other night while driving. Suddenly, he interrupted the line of questioning with a clicking noise, the kind you make by flipping your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Before I could become too puzzled about his actions, I realized he was mocking the turn signal of the car as we turned into the driveway. He has repeated this several times since, so for fun, I’ve begun to engage the signal with no intention of turning, but just to hear him click. And you thought cell phone usage was a driving hazard.

He has also begun to use his words to communicate. This week, for the first time, instead of crying when he woke up in the morning he shouted da da to let me know he was ready to start the day. I tried to ignore it the first time, unsure as to what it was I was hearing. The second time, there was no ignoring what it was he wanted or disguising the aggravation in his voice that he didn’t already have it. Really, it has to be too early to utilize voice inflection to drive home demands.

Elliott has already received his inheritance, or at least a portion of it. When we named him after is great – great grandfather and his great grandfather (Elliott - Thomas), their names were a gift to help him someday learn about generations he’ll never have the opportunity to meet. In doing so, we were unaware that the names came accessorized with the personality of his namesakes. Both of our grandfathers were hard workers and stubborn. Elliott already demonstrates a desire to be moving 100 MPH from the time he gets up until that moment, defeating all stubbornness; you make him go to sleep. But worst, our grandfathers were early risers, and Elliott’s consistent 4:30AM wakeup can only be coming from one place. I imagine there are some heavenly high fives shared each morning when I blindly stumble to receive Elliott’s begging arms awaiting rescue from the crib.

Thank goodness much of his energy these days is released at the Nut House day care, aka grandma and grandpa Almond’s house. And trust me; the name is now far more suitable for the infant client than the caregivers. He worked up enough of an appetite today to whine for some of mom’s broccoli for dinner – cooked real human broccoli. He didn’t show as much enthusiasm for his birthday cake as he did that clump of green vegetable. You have to load him up while hunger is in town because it doesn’t stay long. I’m not sure where he inherited finicky; I only know where it DIDN’T come from.

You’ll notice the pictures of his new stroller – or chariot. Mom found a great deal on the bike trailer that converts to a stroller. Our bikes are still resting in North Carolina storage. That’s probably an unforeseen blessing as I am sure they are in for a workout once the weather breaks. It broke long enough for Elliott to use the stroller this weekend with temperatures in the 70’s. I must be back in Ohio with the prediction of an ice storm tonight.

The boy keeps growing, learning and reminding us more each day how blessed we are to have him in our lives. We are thankful for God’s continued watch over all of us in our daily travels and protection from of a very active flu season.