Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Littlest Literalist

C had an appointment with a pediatric urologist for a minor issue, to see whether surgery was necessary. The doctor needed him to exert himself in order to evaluate the problem. "Knock down the wall, like this," he said, posing with two palms on the wall, and pushing. C looked up at him skeptically, put his hands on the wall, looked up at him again, and you could see in his mind, What is this guy thinking? I can't knock down the wall...

The doctor recognized that this approach wasn't working. "OK; never mind." He opened the exam room door. "Close the door." The doctor held the door halfway open. C's eyes lit up, and he reached with one hand for the handle, and another for the door, and the doctor said, "No, both hands on the door-"

"But, you have to take your hand away!" he insisted. Hubby and I were chuckling pretty heartily in the background at this point. Ah, our little literalist. (And, hopefully it wasn't due to suboptimal evaluation circumstances, but the verdict was no surgery.)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Words

G., at 18 months, is officially a late talker. Of the few words that he does use, only two are nouns. The rest are not: yes, no, hi, bye, beep beep… What is funny is when he copies his older brother C., twice his age. I hear him, in the exact same tone of voice saying, “Okay,” “Mine!” or… to my amusement and horror, “Why, why? Why!”