Say that again!?

I'm sure every mother thinks that every tiny thing their child does is precious. Or maybe not... the newly blossoming temper tantrums are not precious....maybe our next child will have my temper rather than Kirk's.

Anyway, this post is about words, not wordless tantrums. I've always been quite taken with Whit's adorable little voice (perhaps in the same way that I'm obsessed with the way he smells?) and I can always recognize his voice among a crowd (thanks evolution). A mere whisper in the night can rouse me from the deepest slumber.

Another thing Whit received from his father and not his mother are his sleeping habits. Since my earliest memory (ignore what my mother says!) I've been a very sound sleeper. So sound, in fact, that my father's fire drills often did not wake me even with an open door and a fire alarm three feet outside my door. Whit, on the other hand, typically wakes up if he hears Kirk and myself talking a room away. Forget loud noises in the house; I hold my breath! Whit also wakes up occasionally during the night and he's begun coming into our bedroom and asking to get into bed.

At this time of night he's a boy of few words
WHIT: "Mama...Mama...."
ME: (groggily) "Yes, baby?"
WHIT: "Mama"
Whit gets in bed
WHIT: (with surprise) "Daddy!"
KIRK: "Let's go back to sleep."
WHIT: "Otay!"

It's conversations such as these that I wish I were recording for prosperity, or just for the pleasure of listening to those sweet words again.

Whit has many things that he says that are just as sweet but perhaps the most charming are what I've dubbed "Whiticisms" when discussing the phenomenon with my sister. I was casually observing that some children repeat, verbatim and with correct pronunciation, the words they hear. Whit simply repeats what he thinks he hears, what seems right to him. And often his words will evolve, not developing a closer similarity to the source just becoming something new.

This time last year we would drive by HVA on our way to a game and Whit would yell "Ba-ball, ba-ball, Da-da!" This year the word he uses is somewhere between "basket" and "box." "Help" began with the sign for help, evolved to "Wha" and is now "hep" in conjunction with the sign. In most instances, I will repeat the correct word,
Whit will acknowledge that we are saying the same word and will then repeat his Whiticism. Eventually I'm sure his words will sound correct to all of us and not just himself but for now I delight in asking him to repeat himself either for clarification or just so that I can smile.

Other captivating phrases are defined below.

Muncus = Monster
Binkus = Strawberries
Bicks = grapes
Bugs (I think) = glove
Talk = phone
Opee = open, or window
All nine = All done
All nock = All gone
na-nen = again
A-sas = outside
All nick = All right (this is a new one)