Chat Stew

I know we still have almost three months left, but so far, this kid's year two is not so terrible.

Saying that Eliot is a verbal child would be a gross understatement. I am not really exaggerating when I tell people that he talks from the moment he wakes up until he falls asleep at night. He even talks in his dreams. He narrates his day, he asks a million trillion questions per hour, he creates funny voices for his toys, he makes up songs and stories. He is most definitely my child.

We are amazed daily by the complexity of his thoughts. His correct use of phrases. For example, "Mommy, that's not a real word, it's just a figure of speech". A figure of speech. Of course, I know that I have used this same explanation for him when attempting to clarify idiomatic expressions. But to hear it coming from his tiny toddler mouth completely floors me.

He uses words like 'cooperate' and 'gigantic'. He's constantly playing around with new vocabulary. He makes words up when he's felling silly. And he's great at naming people. His current best imaginary friends are Avin and Axon Bagega. And then there's his pumpkin named Mr. MacGreganton.

Along with the explosion in vocab, Eliot's imagination has taken off. In just one day, he might inhabit the skin of the Hulk, a doctor, a daddy, spiderman, a prince, a witch, a pirate, and a scarecrow. And that's before lunch. It's no easy task to keep up with him. "Okay, Hulk," I'll say, "let's go potty," to which he will respond, "I'm not Hulk, Mommy, I'm Doctor Hulk". A real renassaince man. Hulk smash osteoperosis!

So instead of dreading the possible Fucking Threes, as I've heard them called, I'm going to revel in this time right now. Yes, we have tantrums, often a result of tiredness or hunger, and more recently related to his aversion to getting dressed. But they are short lived, and within 5 minutes we're usually laughing about something else. He keeps us on our toes, constantly testing our knowledge (and occasionally our patience) and making us realize how much there is to discover and how infinitely amazing life can be. We're learning right along with him.

Thank god for Google.