Toddler Tracks: The Randomness

It is strange sometimes, living with a toddler. Small munchkin minds don’t work like adult minds. They are not bound by habit or traditional trains of thought. I still don’t get why E does many of the things he does, but I’m content to watch.

Here are some examples of the randomness:

• E recently went through a phase where he loved to squeeze our noses and say “Honk,” but then he would also add, each time, “Oh-sorry.” Sorry is a concept that we’re pretty sure he doesn’t understand at all – but no matter when he says it, it’s cute.
• He has figured out how to spray himself in the face with a spray bottle (we have one on his change table) and he loves this. He really, really wants to spray himself in the face.
• He likes the sound of the word “crazy” – I’m guessing because we usually say it with expression. Again, I know he doesn’t quite get it, but he likes to use it in random situations. Last week he threw his crocheted doll (or should I say “baby”) on the floor, flopped down on top of it, belly-first, and said, “Crazy!” Come to think of it, it was a bit.
• He has a purple plastic octopus bath toy, and he’s been referring to it for months now as Helen. It’s the only toy he has named.
• Yesterday, he was full of randomness. He pulled one of the cat beds out into the hall, then found his DVD (we gave him one to have, because he’s obsessed with them) and threw it on there, and then sat down on both. When his Auntie Em arrived, he was zooming around astride the snake shoe horn, with a pot lid in the other hand. When he was supposed to be falling asleep that night, he instead talked to himself for about 20 minutes. I just listened, trying to follow the stream of consciousness. He seemed to go in fairly logical themes: talk about some numbers, then colours, then animals, food, clothes, vehicles… There was some talk about the book we’d just read (“Beach… sand castle… What doing?”) and at one point I was happy to hear him say, “Bed… like it… bed. Cozy.” Just fascinating.
• Not so random are his efforts to improve his pronunciation. He is making an effort to go from “dory” to “story”, and from “acots” to “apricots”, etc. I’ll be a little sad when he gives up some of his best mispronunciations, like “crumpet” for trumpet, “hep-catters” for helicopters, and “leggy buds” for ladybugs. Sigh.

Okay, here are some photos. Hope you enjoy!

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