Baby 1, Parents 0

My dad once told me “the trouble with kids is, they’re smarter than you think they are”. While he was no doubt referring to my sister, I can see his point. Connor continues to grapple with language development, and while he has quite a few consonants, a fair number of animal sounds, and some vowels – he doesn’t typically put them together in meaningful ways (to Ed and me, anyway). A few days ago, he started saying “da da” and patting my chest when he wants to nurse. As far as I can tell, this “da da” is not much different than the “da da” he uses when referring to Ed – and while Freud may have something to say about this, I’m too tired to think about it. Rather than giving him a new word for nursing, I figured this one was OK because being out in public and demanding “da da” seems better than screaming across the playground “gimme some boob, woman!”.

Looking back, I can’t help but think Connor’s clever side was kicking in. A few days ago, at the very early hour of 5:15, Connor stood up in his crib and shrieked “DAAAA DAAAA” in such an alarming way as to cause both Ed and I to lunge out of bed and into his room. We both presumed there was a dragon in his room that needed all the forces of a dad to conquer – and I was going to provide back-up, in case a distraction was needed. Upon my arrival, it was very clear what Connor wanted. He was very eloquently using his “new” word. Tricked again. Maybe I ought to give him a new word after all.

Elaine

PS: Apparently Connor had been building up to this trick for a few days, and only needed the satisfaction of using it once, because last night, my blessed angel did not wake up until 6:40. Now that Mom, Dad, and baby are all well rested again, we’re a much happier bunch. He also took me seriously when I told him it was time to clean up. Not only was he trying to put the blocks in their basket, he tried to put himself in there too!