(Brushing a sheep at the petting zoo. I don't think I told you all that I lost Henry at the zoo last time! As I tried to gather the younger boy to move on to the next exhibit, Henry walked ahead of us and just kept walking. In a weird way I was glad it happened- I think for 6 1/2 years Henry has never left my side- never ventured anywhere on his own. So I see this as a developmental step, even though it scared the *&$! out of me.)
As Henry's language grows, still in its own very unique way, I wonder what clues it gives to the way he views the world.
I am trying to ask him more involved questions, although I'm not really sure how much of an answer he'll be able to give me. For example, Sunday he kept requesting to go to Kroger with me. (I had mentioned going there, but quickly decided I was too comfortable on the couch to really make the trip.) But Henry wouldn't let it go. Finally I asked "why is it that you want to go to Kroger?" He thought for a few seconds, and then said "I want to get those Lazytown coloring books again." (We bought 2 Lazytown coloring books at Kroger around Christmastime and haven't seen them since. I don't know if they got taken to school and disappeared, or are at my parents' house...) Anyway, I was impressed with his answer.
When he is behaving in a "dysregulated" way, I have tried asking him why. "Why do you keep grabbing your brother?" "Why are you being so grumpy tonight?" He answers those questions also, and this is really interesting. He says "I don't know why, mommy!" in almost a tortured-sounding voice. It is an answer that makes me sad, but we are getting somewhere. It seems that he understands the question and is able to verbalize an appropriate answer. Maybe in time as our communication grows, we will be able to figure out some reasons together.
He has some other declarations that are amusing and a little puzzling. I have mentioned some of these before, but he continues to come up with new ones. If he is being "disciplined" in some way, I think he is trying to argue, but with his own unique logic:
"Please use your spoon to eat your yogurt" (as opposed to his utensil of choice: fingers.)
"The spoon is too messy mommy!" (Even if I haven't said "because it's so messy to eat with your fingers" he anticipates my argument and tries to refute it.)
"Take your hand off your brother" (I recently put their car seats next to each other in the van- may have been a mistake.)
"I already took my hand off my brother daddy!" (Ummm, no you didn't.)
"Ms. F is here to take you to school."
"Ms. F is not here! She is driving away!"
Henry continues to say that he misses one of us pretty frequently. But he has added a new family member to his repertoire: his brother. "I miss Tommy." That made me feel pretty happy. In his own way Henry is letting me know that (after 2 years!) he has accepted that other kid as a part of his family.
5 comments:
I love to hear (read?) about him speaking so well! That picture is delicious.
:-)
i second octoberbabies! so sweet to read about henry and his progress and his wonderful language AND to see such an adorable pic!
thanks for feeding the fish while i'm gone! i'll be back in a couple of weeks and then i think i'll just try posting once or twice a week, to see how that works.
Yet again, Henry's language is SO much like Bud's! I think that for Bud those kinds of reponses stem from his difficulty understanding the concept of "why?" I think he is just starting (at 6 1/2) to understand what I'm asking when I ask him "why?" but he still struggle to articulate responses. Up to now he's had to rely on logical, linear not-even-wrong thought processes instead - i.e., "The criteria people use for determining the appropriate way to eat is MESSY. Therefore, if I do not want to eat with a spoon, then the spoon is messy."
And the "Mrs F is not here" kinds of comments always strike me as a confusion of cause and effect: Is Mom saying "She is driving away" because Mrs. F is leaving, or is Mrs. F leaving because Mom said "She is driving away?"
One other thought. We get the "I already did!" response from Bud a LOT. ("Time to go to the bathroom, Bud."; "I already did!"; "Yes, three hours ago!") He's not even wrong, though - he DID already go!
Good point, MOM-NOS. Maybe Henry is saying "I already left my brother alone once today, remember?"
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