And then he came. At 2:46am. Funny. There's still something about the middle of the night he enjoys. Cruising the house looking for a cat he had apparently dreamed about, coming to the bedroom in a fit of tears, or just flat-out wanting his Mommy.
Kathy and I will remember Kole's third year in different ways for different reasons. First and foremost, his language skills came in a rush and suddenly he began explaining himself and his thoughts with complete verb-noun agreement. No longer will he just verbalize a need for a drink or food, he can wonder aloud why we haven't seen our wild rabbits that live in our backyard underneath our shed; or suggest where I firetruck might be going - not just yap at amazement in just seeing a firetruck.
It's cool watching and hearing his mind work, being curious and being expressive. We're learning things about him that are cool to witness: he has a great memory; he's creative; he really has a loving heart and he always wants to know what's up with his Momma. Good Lord, that Momma's boy.
Favorite phrase: "Whatcha doin?"The curiosity that never stops. Whether you're whipping something up in the kitchen, doing a home repair, or in the bathroom answering nature's call, the boy will appear and look for affirmation of what's going on. Once the favorite phrase comes, I repsond with my favorite response: "What does it look like I'm doing?"
He's either exactly right or mostly right.
Of course with better speech and more comprehension of speech, the more he is wading into more deep and tempting waters. More recently, if Kathy or I ask Kole something - like to let Maggie inside when he's right beside the back door, there has been an occasional comeback like, "No - YOU let Maggie in!"
On his birthday he had his little stool out he stands on to help in the kitchen. We were making cupcakes and Kole will stand and watch and maybe give the batter a few stirs and help where he can. After cupcakes, we moved on to preparing dinner, but Kole was still on his stool jacking around with stuff on the countertops. I told him to get off his stool and to get off the counter. He shot back - "YOU don't tell me what to do!"
There was a stern exchange given about who gives and takes orders in the house. It was almost more excusable because I could tell the tone of voice he was in. It was more parental mocking than sheer vengance. If I hadn't detected that tone in his voice it'd be a different story. But, I also recognize that a large part of him right now is part parrot and what he says is mostly derived from what he hears.
His birthday was spent at home with Karissa. It was not Kathy's day to work, but Grammy came over after visiting Doris in the hospital. Kathy went out and ran some errands. Not having the best verbal ability, Kole still expresses emotions physically. Not sure what emotion was going through his head, but he crapped his pants with Grammy in the house. Not sure what's going through his mind, but we thought he was done with that area of his life and we were down to figuring out how to pee at night and not in bed. That was a disappointing twist to the day. We let him pick his favorite thing to eat - whatever he wanted and from anywhere. He picked orange chicken, the Chinese dish that he prefers in its form from Costco, which sells a frozen version. Easy enough, and he and Karissa loved it. Mom and dad opted for something else, since we just did orange chicken recently. But, tha'ts fine. Next came cupcakes that we made. Aunt Kelley and Regan called from Midland to say and sing Happy Birthday, just before we opened their gifts which we happened to get in the mail earlier in the day. The final act of the day was to let Kole watch whatever movie he wanted and he, of course, picked Elf. So, we got a great mid-summer viewing of the Christmas classic.
I need to get a video on here, where I interviewed Kole this morning while he had breakfast. Our home desktop computer is down (another reason for low blog output) and I need to figure out how to get video here, but it was a good depiction of who Kole is and where his mind is. As the recording ends, I tell him 'Happy birthday', and then his PMS kicks in. He begins crying, saying that "today is my birthday". I strangely affirm that, yes, today is his birthday so I'm telling him Happy Birthday. The cry turns in to a wail for his Momma, saying he needs a hug.
It's moment I'm proud to have on video.
Kole is mostly happy, and frequently curious. That makes me happy. He may or may not be a straight-A student, but I hope to bring him up as a boy that is curious about all things. Being mostly a B-student through grade school myself, I really didn't start shining academically until I reached college. Then, and only then, I started allowing my curiosity lead the way to my learning - instead of treating school as a job. For most of my life, learning was no different from a house chore like taking out the garbage or mowing the lawn. In college, my natural curiosity of how the world worked, and why it worked, came out. That's when I wanted to learn. Better than making A's, I was learning. What I see in Kole now is curiosity, and I'm glad.
You'll hear people say that a good teacher makes learning fun. Rubbish. A good teacher makes learning interesting. I'm trying to lead the charge in making learning interesting for Kole, so he may yearn for more when I turn my back, or when a bad teacher comes along. I think he's well on his way, and that weighs heavy on our minds as he has one more year of mental growth before heading off to Kindergarten.
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