Ever
since our son gained some control over his body, he would mime many of the
things that we did. Sometimes it was as subtle as a facial expression while
other times he would mirror our hand and arm movements. Clapping was a favorite
for a while. There were even several occasions when I would be on the phone on
my way home and he would honk the horn on his car as soon as daddy honked at
the people cutting him off on the highway. It has been interesting to see what
he would pick up and what other things he wouldn’t bother trying.
Now
those simulations are a little more focused as he likes to flip through books
just like mommy and daddy do when we read him a story. Other times he waits to
take a bite of his food until he sees us doing the same thing at the dinner
table. He even likes sitting on the couch, in daddy’s spot, and lounging in the
same way. And while he has yet to start walking, there is a tentative look in
his face when he watches us walk… a look that lets us know that the next thing
he is going to copy is how we walk around the house.
However,
over the last month he has gone from mime to mimic. While he has a few words in
his growing vocabulary and can understand much more than he can actually pronounce,
he has a tendency to sound out words and short phrases that he hears mommy and
daddy say throughout the course of the day. Most of the time this is a great
sound to hear as we try to teach him different words but there are other times
when he picks up a piece of conversation that isn’t focused on his education.
Of
course, there are the moments when he tries to sound out a word and it doesn’t
quite match up with what was originally said. These are the moments that are
both adorable and just flat out funny at times. For example, “Apple” and “A-Hole”
are two completely different things but if you point to a picture of a
Macintosh it is, according to our son, most definitely an “a-hole”. Needless to
say, we are becoming increasingly more careful with what words our son hears us
say and the conversations that we have within earshot.
The
most important part of this whole thing is that he is learning and he is
picking up things faster than we expected… faster than he should be. And when
his ability to speak catches up with his cognition and ability to understand
what we are saying we are going to be in trouble because he picks up more and
understands more than he should at this point. Maybe it is from his obsession
of watching Sunday Morning every weekend with daddy (yes, he looks forward to
it and gets excited when he hears the introduction music). Whatever it is, I
guess we are doing something right.
No comments:
Post a Comment