Friday, November 21, 2008

Oh-Oh

Tom is positively skipping along the road of self determined communication at the moment.

Our days are fragranced by that special toddler music that everybody – from the hard hearted swine to the soft hearted sap – would consider “cute”.

Karen and I have been elevated in Tom’s eyes to food bringing servants who answer to the names of “Mamamamama” and “Dadadadada” respectively (I’m wondering if it’s too late to change Tom’s name to Pavlov). Ben has been christened “Bububububu” which I guess could be a baby-talk version of “Ben” or “brother”.

Obviously, being his dad and having a gushingly sentimental bias I find Tom’s every utterance an absolute delight. Though of course that sense of delight is mediated somewhat when his vocal acrobatics perforate the airways before 6.0am in the morning,

However, there is as yet only one word which I can say, hand on heart, Tom has been actively taught to say...

Tom is a fine mimic. A little story to prove this: we’ve all be coughing so much of late that Tom has taken to producing little pretend coughs at various points in our interactions obviously thinking they are some kind of normal conversational device. Anyway, whilst playing with the fridge magnets the other day (a very serious occupation) one happened to drop out of his hand onto the floor with quite a loud thud. He gave me a look of shock and surprise. Without thinking I responded with a comedic “Oh-oh”.

Tom’s eyes met mine and I swear I could see a look of recognition or cognizance sweep across his little face as his brain interpreted this response and related it to the world around him.

The word “oh-oh” came right back out at me followed by a very large giggle.

Now I’d like to think this was a reference to the dropped magnet and not as I secretly fear a reaction to the bespectacled gentleman that Tom now easily recognizes as his dadadadada...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awww so sweet. Tom I mean, not his bespectacled dada. Although I'm sure you have your moments too!!?

I remember my son's first word. It was awfully early and I was convinced he was a child genius. The word was "cat" - or "ca" really. He'd point excitedly at our black & white cat and say "ca, ca, ca". A few weeks later we went to the zoo and we realised that the word "ca" did not refer to the cat at all but to black and white objects. So he waved his arms about enthusiastically and pointed at penguins and zebras, shouting "ca". Not quite the genius I thought he was.

I love emerging language though - one of my favourite phases with children.

Steve said...

I do have my moments Gina, but I'm sure they're very few and far between! as for Tom, he has a well developed sense of humour - which I'm convinced he's had for months and months now - and he knows "Oh-oh" will elicit a good laugh or two from me and his mum. The weird thing is he also seems to know just when and how to use it and doesn't just come out with it willy-nilly. He's also remarkably tidy - very often he'll make a show of wiping the top of the coffee table and even makes an attempt at putting his toys away. He's a real chip of his dad's old block and therefore a delightful genius in every way! ;-)

P.S. I'm sure Karen had some major input in this as well...

justme said...

Oh -oh! Does he watch tele tubbies? There is a lot of Oh-Oh! in there!

Steve said...

Ha ha - I'm happy to say that he doesn't (yet) though he is rather partial to In The Night Garden which is on much the same level. I'm just grateful he hasn't started saying "ninky-nonk"...!

The Sagittarian said...

Aw cute story. It would seem we all have genius sprogs eh?

Steve said...

Amanda, the future generation's so bright it's got to wear shades.

Daisy said...

very nice steve...just a small story for you which was told to me by several people...when i was little i had a puppy, who like most puppies would pee on the floor trying to learn a better way...my father (god love his short italian temper) would instinctively say (as his bare foot would find a puddle)...son of a bitch...after a while, apparently i thought that was the dogs name...and when i was out with my father at a rather hoity toity restaurant someone asked me about my dog and her name...i replied "son of a bitch" looking at my father smiling because i had mastered the words...the woman was shocked (i didn't know why) and when she questioned my father his reply was "she only got the gender wrong"...

Steve said...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Daisy, your father sounds like he was quite a guy!

Daisy said...

steve...he was...an original, to be sure

Steve said...

All the best ones are, Daisy. :-)

Brother Tobias said...

Our first born's first word was 'picture', because when necessary I toted her around rooms in that parental, jiggling way, pointing them out.

One of Bob's earlier utterings was 'Buggerbuggerbugger', after overhearing my mother struggling with some appliance in the laundry.

Steve said...

"Buggerbuggerbugger" is as fine a first word as it is possible to have. I feel I am neglecting Tom's development by not swearing at him more regularly - sadly he is always in bed way before the 9 O'clock watershed...!

skatey katie said...

that is *so* cute!
ever single one of our kids' first words was -
DADA.
not MAMA.
but i'm ok with that.
i think X

Steve said...

Kate, I'm sure the first word in their hearts was "mama"...