War and Words

I love watching Henry putting on a fight between "froggy" and "by (spider)." He sat in the bathtub full of bubbles; and grasped the two tiny plastic creatures with his chubby fingers. Passionately he dropped the froggy into the water with the shout of "FROGGY JUMP!" and the spider followed with a big splash. I watched and cheered with uncertainty because, even as good as I am being this two-year-old's interpreter, I couldn't figure out which one I should be cheering for - froggy or the spider? By his facial expression of knotted brows and pouting lips, he was mumbling to himself and I was lost but oh-so-enchanted.

He didn't seem to care which side was winning the battle. Once the spider was thrown out of the tub and he immediately called for back-up "Mommy, by! by!" I picked it up, handed it to him and he promptly dropped into the tub while froggy was in his palm the whole time. It was a bit confusing but military strategies and the art of war have never been of interest to me. I submitted myself to the two-year-old's wisdom in the warfare and he seemed to be very confident about what he was doing.

By the end of the battle, I was soaked. Because in the final violent act of the fight, and to make sure its epic proportion was noticed, he stood on the edge of the tub, jumped in the water, clenched froggy and "by" in both hands and yelled "WHOA!" After handing him to his dad who waited with a towel and a smile, I was left to clean up the aftermath of the battle between froggy and "by". That's what mothers are for, isn't it, to clean up the mess.

P.S. This was written in January of this year. I am happy to report that Henry's vocabury and phrases have expanded to include "Aw wight (all right.)" "Aw, nuts!" (This one baffled both Wendy and me.) "No, thank you." (It is getting very annoying when you ask him to take a bath, he says "no, thank you."; ask him to eat his fruit, he says "no, thank you."; ask him to let you change his diaper, he says "no thank you."... You get the gist. It makes almost impossible to be upset with him when he so politely refuses to do what he is asked.) "Ethan, go to bed!" "Stop it!" (He is a very smart and quick parrot.); put him in a time-out, he says " No, mommy! What you doing?", as if I am the one should be in time-out. He sees no reason for him to be put in a time-out when he purposely dumped the juice on the floor. ("Well, someone has to verify Newton's theory." his eyes so clearly told me so.)

Here is Henry in time-out.

P.P.S Henry's conversation skill has been improved from short answers of "yes" or "no" to "more cookies, pees (please)" or "More malk (milk)" or "Ethan paay (play) ball." or "Go bye bye! Go bye bye!!" My favorite, though, is when he says "thank you, mommy."