I think I will be sad when Ethan talks in
the same language as us and leaves his own little expressions behind. In his first few months he used make a little
chirping squirrel sound, now gone. Then
it was endless 'da-da', then 'uh-oh', now also changed and used in only
appropriate times, like when he sees dad or spills something, rather than the
constantly repeated syllables they once were. In a strange way it seems to suddenly hit me that he is far from that little baby he once was.
He understands more of us than we do of him
these days. I say, 'Don't touch that!'
or 'Wait for me, please.' or 'Be patient, just a minute.' and he knows what I
mean. I think the words he has picked up
tell us a little something about what ignites his young imagination. Cars, colours, numbers, cooking utensils,
dirt - are all things he has words for.
Numbers especially get him very excited.
So much so, that we have to limit the times of day he can watch one of
favourite kids shows, the NumberJacks.
They are like little number-shaped superheros
that live a sofa and come out to help kids solve counting and maths related
problems. Sounds innocent enough, but it
sets him off. He is so excited by it
that if he sees it too late in the day, bath time becomes a real battle and he
jumps around in bed for a while before finally going to sleep. But he loves it,
so now and again we give in.
The other day the Number Jacks were helping
to solve a problem where people were counting wrong. Ethan was chiming along, repeating his
favourite numbers. 'Five! Eight!
Twenty-nine!' The went to a bakery and a
woman was piling endless cream filled cakes and buns onto a tray.
'Gammato!' Ethan yelled out. Thom and I looked at each other,
puzzled. What is this Gammato? Is it a cake instead of a tomato? I asked Ethan, what is a gammato?
'Yes', he answered , matter of factly. We are none the wiser. But it makes me a little sad that one day he
will be able to tell us exactly what he means and Gammto will be gone.