Little Linguist

As Ben gets closer to turning two (less than a month to go!  how did this happen??) and shows more of his big-kid personality, I can see some characteristics that I've passed on that I wish I had spared him:  he's not easy-going, he wants things the way he wants them, he has some irrational social anxieties.  However, I am not at all sad to see that I've passed on the Word Nerd gene.  My boy loves language.  I try to write down some of the funny things he says every day, but we really need to follow him around with a camera to document it fully.  But just to give you a little sample, here's another edition of Bragger's Corner with some of my recent favorites:

• Yesterday, he was eating a snack in the car, and he made an important discovery.  He very excitedly told me out of nowhere, "Actually, those Teddy Grahams are BEARS!" (Not sure what he thought they were before?)
• Roughly one thousand times every day, he points out that one word sounds like another word.  Last night, he told me fabric sounds like brakes (a stretch, but I'll give it to him).  This morning, Daniel jokingly told Ben that his coffee was tar.  Ben declared, "Sounds wike car!  And Target!  Sounds wike Target and car!"
• When we read books, he turns the pages and asks, "What happens next?"  An English teacher's dream.
• He is a tiny bit obsessed and knows the names of quite a few big machines/trucks.  Our neighbor Juan used a skid-steer loader a few days ago to do some work in his yard, and Ben is still beside himself about it.  He wants to walk down to Juan's house and look at where the skid-steer loader used to be.  Several times, the very first thing he's said when I go get him from his nap has to do with "Wand" and his "skid-steer woader."
• For some reason, we were talking about street names while running errands recently.  I told him that we live on Slickrock Drive.  Without missing a beat, he said, "Slickrock Drive.  'Cause we're driving!"
• The only thing he wants to watch on TV anymore is Wheel of Fortune (thanks to my friend Elizabeth for reminding me how much I love the wheel).  He will hand me or Daniel the remote and say, "Wheel of Fortune time!"  One time when the show ended, he demanded, "More Pat Sajaking!"  I'm not sure what he thinks is going on while he watches, but he always notices when the audience makes disappointed sounds and says, "Aww!  She wost all her money!"
• I read him the following lame joke from a kids' yogurt cup:  Why did the rabbit wear a hat?  He was having a bad hare day.  That sort of humor is way over his head, but for some reason, he wanted me to repeat the joke multiple times anyway.  After several repetitions, I asked him to tell it to me instead.  He had to think for a minute, and then he offered this interpretation:  Why did he wear a hat?  'Cause he was having a bad time.  Close enough.
• He has started composing compound sentences (like today's, "Daddy was at church, but he came back!") and occasionally some sentences with "if" clauses (like last week's explanation of an activity he made up, "If you stand on it, it spins around and around and around!").  My mouth basically hangs open all day because I can't believe how smart this child is.
• In spite of being incredibly smart, he still has me and you totally switched.  So he might say "Mommy, pick you up" when he really means "Mommy, pick me up."  We've made some half-hearted attempts to straighten this one out, but I'm really not too worried about it.  It's kind of comforting that he doesn't understand everything just yet.  I probably only have three of four more years to enjoy being smarter than he is, so maybe I'll just let him figure this one out on his own.

I've said this about every age, but this one is the best yet.  Yesterday, I got a little misty-eyed because I suddenly realized that he is going to keep growing and changing, and this precious toddler stage will just be a memory.  I know that sounds melodramatic, but it's TRUE!  And sometimes it's pleasant to remember that this stage is fleeting because this stage also includes whining, tantrums, boundary-testing, and the never-ending growth of two-year molars.  Motherhood is tiring these days (and have I mentioned the baby brother who constantly plays pinball with my internal organs?), but it's so, SO much fun!