Boy Wonder

At 16 months old, Jason continues to be a source of joy and endless amusement. Of course I’m biased, but I think the kid’s pretty brilliant. He already knows some of his letters (M, E, D, J, O, A, S and T) and numbers (2, 3, 6, 9 and 10) and probably understands a lot more than he can verbalize. He has a big book which in turn is filled with lots of little books covering the whole alphabet. The other day they were all over the floor and when I told him to put them away, I noticed he returned them in the right order. Each book has letters on the cover — for example S and T on one book — and each has a corresponding “parking space” also marked with those letters. Once or twice he started to put a book in, noticed the letters didn’t match up, found the right place and put it there.

When we read him familiar stories, we sometimes pause and give him a chance to finish sentences, which he usually does (though I grant you not everyone would understand his pronunciations). I don’t know, I never had a kid before so maybe all that is normal, but somehow it doesn’t seem like it. Anyway it makes it worthwhile having read those books to him so many times…turns out he was actually learning something.

There’s lots of other stuff that’s just fun. When the phone rings he cups one hand up to his ear as if to say, “That’s the phone, Dad. Hadn’t you better answer it?” When we’re out, it’s always a crowd pleaser to ask him, “Are you a good boy?” because he always shakes his head “no.” If you ask him whether he wants to take a shower, he’ll squeal with joy, run around in circles and shoot up the stairs to the bathroom.

Next week it’s up to Ohio for Aunt Heidi’s wedding. Everyone’s looking forward to seeing Jason after 6 months…hope they still recognize him!