We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
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Tuesday, Jan. 04, 2005 - Mamma
Jack's Accent
Jack has an Aussie accent.
I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to anyone who's family contains adults with different "accents", but it sure does amuse Mamma.
Kids usually talk more like their 'at home' parent -- it's a combination of exposure and identification, I think. But still, if there is a sound stranger than children speaking with an unfamiliar accent, it's your own child speaking with an, if not unfamiliar, then a 'not one's own', accent.
People had been commenting on it for months, but Jack's speech has now gotten clear enough for it to be obvious even to me. He swallows the final "r" on all words and he uses much "fuller" vowels than I do. It's cute as can be!
A Walkin' Kind of Guy
Jack just LOVES to go for walks!
That's a good thing, of course, but it's also pretty hard to manage when he snow is up past his knees and the temperatures are around 17F (-9C or so).
Of course, going for a walk with a two-year old is also a long and involved adventure. We stop and name every car or truck we pass.
At first, we just had specify "car" or "truck". Then we had to specify the colour. "That's a blue truck." And now, Jack is asking for more information. Not sure what he's looking for yet. He also wants to stop and talk about every empty parking space he sees.
Once we're off the street, he wants to examine every pine cone, every stick, every rock. He stops to talk to the dogs we meet, and he loves the ducks and geese down at the lake.
This is great fun in summer, when the weather is warm and the sun stays up through the evening. Now, in winter, when it gets dark early, it's cold -- and very often it's wet -- it's a lot less fun, but it's a part of Jack's life that he enjoys greatly. I hate to deprive him. For one thing, it makes every trip in the car difficult, because when we go to get into the car, Jack wants to keep walking, and he protests when we stop at the garage.
So, having figure that out, I'm trying to take Jack for walks every few days.
A few days ago, Jack was pretty determined to go for a walk. It was raining, but the temperatures weren't too bad (just above freezing) so we put on our big coats and off we went. Despite frosty nose and cheeks, Jack seemed happier than I've seen him ina while, though just after the halfway point, he went from spirited and energetic to suddenly very cold andtired, so I put him inside my coat and carried him for the last part of the usual route.
That was OK. I enjoyed having my independent young companion turn back into my cuddly baby for a few minutes.
Actually, if it means having my cuddly baby back for a few minutes and makes jack happy, I may try to do that every other day when the cold isn't too intense.
