book fiend

"Bookk! Bookkk!" is a common refrain around here these days. Unable to master a simple K or CH sound, X tends to turn both into a harsh, throaty, gutteral, German sounding thing, as in the phrase, "Ich auch" meaning "me too." It's adorable. Especially when he throws it on the end of "couch" and "ouch." In any case, he chants "bookkk!" all day long, slapping his hands together & shut in a display of the old sign that I must have taught him ages ago & by some miracle he still remembers (signs are used when he most emphatically wants something -signs for "more" and "all done" getting as much play as "book"). Lately, he tags his own version of the book's name on to all requests. "No night Moom!, he says, clutching Goodnight Moon & following me around the kitchen. "Goggy!" he shouts, as he begs for me to read him a little Gossie (a small yellow gosling who likes to wear red boots. Every day.) "Yuyee, Yuckee!" he says, & we sit down for a quick review of those things he should never try to eat ("Blueberries are yummy, blue crayons are yucky!").

Many mornings find him nestled quietly on his futon as in the photo above while I get his breakfast together. He sits there quietly for longer than I could have imagined possible, a pile of books stacked beside him as he picks up each in turn, flipping through the pages slowly, pointing at & naming the things that he knows. And he knows so terribly much. "Newspapah!" he says, as he points to a picture in one of those handy "Word" books for toddlers. How on earth does he know what a newspaper is? -They are practically extinct?! It boggles the mind...