Riding in a Car with N

My little guy slays me. N will be three in January, just two days after my 40th birthday, in fact. His language development is nothing like his sister's was, but we're not supposed to compare now, are we. Except I just did.

In any case, he's still hard to understand, especially if you can't see what he's seeing. So each day, as we drive together to and from his preschool and my office, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what he's telling me. Because the kid talks. A lot. In that, he is just like his sister. (Whoops, there I go with the comparing again. I am not a good mom.)

Last night was no exception. I wish I'd had a tape recorder, because of course I can't remember it all, sieve-minded as I am. But I know that at one point, a big truck passed by, and that prompted about five minutes of chatter...

N: Mommy, a boo one!
TC: A blue what?
N: A boo druck! Wight dere! See it?
TC: Oh, yes, a blue truck.
N: Too far way. Boo druck too far way now, Mommy. I no like it. [At which point, all of a sudden, he starts calling] Boo druck! Gum back here boo druck! You lissen a me, boo druck. You gum back here WIGHT NOW! Look a me, boo druck. Look a me WIGHT NOW!

Darn that truck. It would neither listen nor look at him. But he got over it quickly.

N: Hear dat, Mommy?
TC: Yes, I did.
N: What dat noise? What dat noise about?
TC: I don't know. Do you?
N: Yep. Dat my shoes. And dat my socks.
TC: Oh, you took your shoes and socks off, did you? (This is part of his on-the-way-home ritual; not my personal favorite part, but a part nonetheless.)
N: Yep. I dook them off, Mommy. Now I count my does. One, doo, free, foe-wur, fie, dics, seben, eight, nine, den, weben, twev, doiteen, doiteen, eighteen, nineteen, dwendy!
TC: Wow, twenty toes, huh?
N: Yep. On dis foot. Now I count my others does.

By now, we're getting off the freeway. Our offramp goes uphill a bit.

N: Ohmost ome now! We go up, up, upadahill. Da cars go down da hill. Bye cars. See you yater! See you amorrow!

And so, on that note, see you yater too. Happy Chanukah, to those celebrating. And happy, merry everything else to those about to celebrate.