Oliver has undergone a remarkable verbal explosion in the past few months, going from less than six words (four of which referred to the cats), to well over a hundred words, including dozens of sentences and phrases.
Some of Oliver’s new words and phrases reveal our occassionally sub-optimal parenting skills – for example, yelling “F###!” when he hears a car horn honking, or saying “Is zeee wezher (weather)” whenever he sees Al Roker come on the Today Show.
Other phrases are just too adorable, like when he hides under a blanket and yells “Where eez he? Where eez Ahwiwer (Oliver)?”, or when he takes off running, squealing “I gonna get you!”
Some words and phrases are like nails on a chalkboard, due solely to the fact that we hear them no less than one hundred times a day – ”Toy?” (referring to his musical cell phone that lives in the car, and with which he is utterly obsessed), “Out”/”Bye-bye”/”Car” (a homebody my son is not), ”Up Pees?” (when he is doing his pre- and post-workday velcro baby routine), and ”Javi? Baby?” (inquiring as to the whereabouts of his best friend and his baby sister).
Some phrases make you seize with dread — like when Oliver yells “Ahwiwer, NO!” from another room, right before he climbs on the table/pulls a glass off the counter/knocks down a lamp/drags the cat across the room by its tail/tosses my laptop on the floor/etc.
And, finally, there are some phrases that just melt your heart into a big old puddle and remind you that despite the sleepless nights, the complete and total lack of downtime, and the staggering expense of having a child, it is still so totally worth it — like this morning, when I was leaving for work and Oliver gave me a big hug (in the process smearing oatmeal on my dry clean only silk dress) and said, “Bye-Bye Mommy. I love you. I meeece-oo (miss you)!”
I love you too, my darling boy. More than I could have ever dreamt possible.
