Family Tales

We got a webcam for home, so we can do video phone calls with Daddy across the country. Here’s the result of Callum and me playing around when we first installed it and were testing it out. It’s grainy and dark, but I think the fun comes through.

Callum’s new favorite word, that I foresee us hearing a lot of in coming months/years: “yuck” Ah, the joys….

First day above ground

Originally uploaded by Pamela PC

In my growing quest to find something that engages both Callum and me, I thought I found something ideal that combines mud, water, and learning: gardening. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that it also takes more than a little bit of gentleness and precision. Well, at least the way I started trying to practice it.

We went out to Home Depot a few weeks ago, and picked up a few packets of seeds. Cantalope, basil, rosemary, carrots. All kind of fun things, I thought, and I’ve never been successful in growing anything from seed, so it’d be a challenge for me, as well.

I pulled out our little seedling box (last used here) and we started pouring water over it — Callum’s favorite part. Then, we got out the seeds and started pushing them into the soil. Callum did pretty well with that, though he wanted to keep pouring water and playing in it. I had to help him get some of the seeds under the surface, but he kept pushing and pushing, and they were soon subsumed.

We’ve been checking their progress every day and little green things started poking up a few days ago. (I only vaguely know what they are, because wrangling Callum prevented me from actually labeling anything — for him the little stick labels just made great handles to pull the soil pod out of the foam holder.) When I show Callum the new seedlings, he mostly seems interested in dousing them with more water (or milk), and wants to re-do the pushing-into-the-ground part of the process. “No!,” I say firmly, and put the plastic cover back on the bio-dome thing.

So, we’ll see if we actually get these things into the ground, and whether we produce anything worth crowing about, even if we do. All the same, it’s been fun. And there’s something about watching seed turn into plant that’s just so life-affirming. Still, I’m searching for more weekend activities for the boy and me. (Next up: martial arts!)

Interesting bit covering research concerning kids’ relationships with their fathers.

Callum’s ability to say words is moving ahead at an astounding pace. Here are a few of the items in his vocabulary:

New ones:

• Spider
• Stop
• Go
• Canta (sing, in Spanish)
• Cat (he still mostly refers to cats as “meow”)
• Food (sounds like “bood”)
• Boo boo (American childish word for for “injury”)

Longstanding parts of the vocab:

• Ga-ga (for anything to drink - originates from “agua,” Spanish for water)
• Car
• Dog
• Ball
• Bath
• Choo Choo
• Mama and Dada
• Bear
• Backpack
• Bike
• Boots

Callum’s day care had a little party/performance a couple of weeks ago. He’s not exactly the most vocal singer (could be because he doesn’t have that many words yet, especially in Spanish), nor is he such an active dancer. But he’s darned cute, if I say so myself.

There was a time when I wished Callum would be more interested in television, so I could do things like, uh… update this blog, wash the dishes, take a shower, etc. But now, things have gotten ridiculous. Of the words in his ever-budding vocabulary, probably 50% relate directly to a certain TV program called “Dora the Explorer.” Often, Callum’s first word when I go into his room in the morning is “Dora” and he’s also quite fond of pretending to snap his fingers and say “man” (short for “oh, man!”) — the trademark saying of Swiper the Fox. He never tires of saying “backpack,” and “map,” is also on the tip of his tongue. So, should I be horrified at the TV (specifically Dora) addict our son has become, or should I be thrilled that his vocabulary is expanding? Hmmm…

In other news, Callum’s vocabulary has also expanded to cover the two essentials of toddlerhood: “no” (which sounds like “naw”) and “mine.” Would he really be a toddler without the tantrums that revolve around those two sentiments?

This one is kind of long. Hopefully it’ll work for everyone.

Since Callum was about 7 or 8 months old, we’ve been showing him this baby sign language DVD, which he really loves. The idea is that babies are physically able to make signs with their hands much earlier than they’re able to say words with their mouths. But we haven’t been pushing it. We aren’t that consistent about making the signs when we speak to Callum, in part because our hands are often full. Still, we show him the video pretty regularly, because he seems to really like the sign language lady and the little girl.

Anyway, Saturday morning, I took the boy with me to Peets Coffee. Our coffee maker is broken, and I was jonesing for the morning caffeine. I also hoped it’d be good people-watching for him. Got coffee for me, and milk for him. Somewhere in there, between sneaking a sip of java and helping him sip from his milk cup, I saw him do it. With his little right hand, Callum did the sign for “milk.” He showed zero recognition of the fact that he’d done something rather extraordinary and exciting, so maybe it was just a fluke (like the earlier first word false alarm) but the sign for milk is pretty distinctive. Will he repeat the feat? Only time will tell.

Just when I’d convinced myself the whole “cat” phenomenon was all in my head, Callum floored me with another big moment. When I approached his day care today I peeked in the front window. (I love doing this to see what he’s doing before he sees me. Yes, I’m spying on my kid already.)

But I was spotted, and one of the day care ladies immediately shouted “let’s show your mommy” (in Spanish). Then she set him on his feet, and he proceeded to take about three steps toward me. Then, of course, he promptly fell down. I was practically in tears and kept saying “Wow.” Meanwhile, Callum couldn’t figure out what the big deal was.

So, it’s happened. Our boy has begun his life as a walker. We couldn’t get him to do much more than one step at home (perhaps because we have hardwood floors, whereas the day care has carpeting). But sooner or later he’s going to figure out he’s likelier to catch the cat if he’s on two feet.

BTW, no more evidence that verbal language is in the works. Stops and starts, I guess.