Reading Rainbow
J.J. quit the binkie. One night, Justin and I couldn't find any under the couch cushions and were too tired to go to the store. Besides, at some point in his life, J.J. is going to have to talk, not communicate by pointing and grunting. Perhaps without the silencer in his mouth, he'll learn how to do that.
Since he is still practically a mute, we act like we don't know what he means when he drags us over to the cupboard where the binkies used to be and growls.
"You want a straw? Jar lids? Olive oil? What?" we say. "No ablo caveman."
It is working. He sits down with his little books and reads: "Now now now now now. Now now now now now."
I guess that's what we sound like to him. Talkers like mommy and daddy.
"J.J., now the now in the now after the now now now. Now nee now. Now now."
No wonder he doesn't see what the big deal is about talking.
If there is a girl in the book, he says, "Mama," even if she is the same age as the boys in the book. Sort of like how he calls Johnny "other dada," I guess because he is the second tallest boy in the house.
Meanwhile, Richie is reading Bob books that his cousins gave him. In the first book, Mat sits on Sam and vice versa. Mat is sad. Sam is sad.
"If they didn't be bad, they wouldn't be sad," Richie comments, raising his eyebrows.
The most rewarding thing about reading a book is passing judgement on the foolish characters. I'm glad Richie understands that at such a young age.
He also likes to pick favorites. He loves Mat, who is round. But Sam, who is shaped like a triangle, really bugs him. So when Mat sits on Sam, he thinks its funny. But when Sam does the same thing...it's just annoying.
I asked him today if he still wanted to go to school more than two days a week.
"No," he said. "We have rest time, and that's pretty dumb. But I do like hanging my backpack on the hook."
Still, I figured I needed ramp up my education efforts while he is at home. I know he learns a lot at school. But perhaps, on his days home, he shouldn't watch T.V. during J.J.'s entire three hour nap. So we're reading the Bob books. Then, when Johnny gets home from school, they watch T.V. for three hours.
You know what I can't understand...experts who tell you to watch T.V. with your kids. What would the point of that be? Who would sweep the house, meanwhile, the smart aleck cartoon characters? No. Their job is to babysit the kids.
As for Johnny, his shyness lasted two days. Then it was replaced by his traditional bossiness (I wonder where he gets that from.)
He had a friend over the other day--the sweetest, quietest boy you ever saw. Johnny told him he could watch T.V. after he completed his first level of Ninja training. (Which is basically moving your arms really fast and saying, "Ch. Ch. Ch." I know because I already am a second-tier ninja.)
At one point, Johnny wanted to play in the living room, but his friend was looking at the toys in the boys' room.
So Johnny said, "Here we go," and carried his friend into the living room like he was J.J.
Well, that's the news in Waldo. Thank you for reading and for all your nice comments lately.
Since he is still practically a mute, we act like we don't know what he means when he drags us over to the cupboard where the binkies used to be and growls.
"You want a straw? Jar lids? Olive oil? What?" we say. "No ablo caveman."
It is working. He sits down with his little books and reads: "Now now now now now. Now now now now now."
I guess that's what we sound like to him. Talkers like mommy and daddy.
"J.J., now the now in the now after the now now now. Now nee now. Now now."
No wonder he doesn't see what the big deal is about talking.
If there is a girl in the book, he says, "Mama," even if she is the same age as the boys in the book. Sort of like how he calls Johnny "other dada," I guess because he is the second tallest boy in the house.
Meanwhile, Richie is reading Bob books that his cousins gave him. In the first book, Mat sits on Sam and vice versa. Mat is sad. Sam is sad.
"If they didn't be bad, they wouldn't be sad," Richie comments, raising his eyebrows.
The most rewarding thing about reading a book is passing judgement on the foolish characters. I'm glad Richie understands that at such a young age.
He also likes to pick favorites. He loves Mat, who is round. But Sam, who is shaped like a triangle, really bugs him. So when Mat sits on Sam, he thinks its funny. But when Sam does the same thing...it's just annoying.
I asked him today if he still wanted to go to school more than two days a week.
"No," he said. "We have rest time, and that's pretty dumb. But I do like hanging my backpack on the hook."
Still, I figured I needed ramp up my education efforts while he is at home. I know he learns a lot at school. But perhaps, on his days home, he shouldn't watch T.V. during J.J.'s entire three hour nap. So we're reading the Bob books. Then, when Johnny gets home from school, they watch T.V. for three hours.
You know what I can't understand...experts who tell you to watch T.V. with your kids. What would the point of that be? Who would sweep the house, meanwhile, the smart aleck cartoon characters? No. Their job is to babysit the kids.
As for Johnny, his shyness lasted two days. Then it was replaced by his traditional bossiness (I wonder where he gets that from.)
He had a friend over the other day--the sweetest, quietest boy you ever saw. Johnny told him he could watch T.V. after he completed his first level of Ninja training. (Which is basically moving your arms really fast and saying, "Ch. Ch. Ch." I know because I already am a second-tier ninja.)
At one point, Johnny wanted to play in the living room, but his friend was looking at the toys in the boys' room.
So Johnny said, "Here we go," and carried his friend into the living room like he was J.J.
Well, that's the news in Waldo. Thank you for reading and for all your nice comments lately.
posted by Midwest Mama at 2:11 PM
2 Comments:
Is there any doubt that in the year 3756 people will come across this blog and become fascinated by this manchild J.J..
"Ah he must be descended from gods," Zaza will conclude. "His will is infatigable, and he controls his people without the use of words. It must have been tough for him to be around all those neanderthals."
I told them they could each choose 3 books for me to read to them yesterday. JJ and Richie faught over "Spiderman". JJ got the last grab and plopped on my lap pointing out the mama's and dada's in the book. I asked if he wanted a binkie for his nap. He ran to where I keep them , so excited and was asleep in my arms in seconds. When I got on the computer, Richie played with the legos on the floor and JJ stood and stared at the computer. I kept saying, "Do you want to sit on my lap?" He'd yell "NO" and step back. He cracks me up!
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