The Word Game

I don't know about you, but I find it incredibly fascinating how children learn to talk and understand what certain things mean. A couple weeks before his second birthday, I noticed Jacob was starting to say a lot more and beginning to use words in the correct context. Some, I'd rather him not use at all, but that's completely my fault!

You never realize just how much you use certain words and phrases until you have a 2-year old repeating everything you say. One phrase Jacob has, unfortunately, picked up from me is, "Oh gosh!" I use those words all too often and now Jacob uses them too. The first time he used them in the correct context was while we were in the car on the way to his photo appointment. We went over a little hill, then had to hit the brakes. That's when I heard from the backseat, "Oh gosh!" Today, he was carrying his toy cash register from the kitchen back to the living room and dropped it in transit. As soon as it crashed on the tile floor there was a gasp and a little whisper, "Oh gosh!" I realize if I want him to stop saying this, I am going to have to break my habit and come up with an alternative exclamation phrase. I'm working on it. In fact, when the cash register crashed to the floor, I said, "Oh goodness gracious!" Apparently it's going to take more than one time to catch on with him.

Jacob likes to play this little word game where he says a word, then you repeat it. Sometimes he says the word in a weird voice. Heath calls it his redrum voice because it reminds him of the kid in The Shining.......I know........weird. We're not sure where he got that from, but Jacob thinks it's hilarious, especially if you repeat the word trying to use that same voice. Anyway.......this morning I was able to catch the word game on camera, sans the weird voice. He was just finishing up his breakfast -- yogurt and a waffle with peanut butter. The reason the peanut butter is slathered all over his face? I only spread a little bit in the middle of the waffle. Of course, he went for the middle first, eating a hole through the center and turning the waffle into a doughnut.

If I would have kept the camera rolling just a few seconds longer, I would have caught Jacob's newest phrase: "I do!" If you ask him if he wants to do someting, he will say, "I doooo" in a little sing-song voice. Very cute. Cute. That's another word I never realized I use so often, but now that Jacob has picked it up, I catch myself saying it ALL the time! I guess "cute" isn't so bad, but it is one of those words that gets annoying when you hear someone say it constantly. I need to think of a replacement word for that one too.

Cohn-a

Last night we gave Jacob corn on the cob for the first time. He's had corn before, but never the whole corn cob. He loved it, but after he had eaten almost every little corn kernel, he handed me the cob and asked me to cut it. He didn't understand that all the corn was gone and there was nothing left to cut. By the way, he calls corn, "cohn-a." I'm thinking Jacob has a little Italian in his blood because he adds an "a" to the end of a lot of words. For instance, when he counts, he says, "Mun-a, two-a....."