Fun With Pronouns

Asa calls himself Asa. He doesn't use "I" or "me" yet. Jim's attempt to teach him "I" sounded a bit like the Who's on First routine.

ASA: Asa wants more.
PAPA: Asa, say "I want more."
ASA: Papa wants more.
PAPA: (cracking up) Nooooo. Not me... you. Say "I want more."
ASA: You want more.
CAMDEN: (chimes in) Asa, don't say "Asa," just say "I want more."
ASA: Camden wants more.

Then, we had this exchange in the pool today.

ASA: Asa is a dolphin.
MOMMY: Asa, can you say "I am a dolphin?"
ASA: Mommy is a dolphin!

I knew where it was going and just gave up.... I was laughing too hard.

Our Son...

• Says "Mama, mama.... ummmm, mama? Mama! Mama..." before he tells me anything. Even if I'm looking right at him and he has my full attention, he must say "mama" no less than eight times before telling me what he wants to say. Very cute. Usually.
• Asks "What's this?" or "What's that?" when he sees anything he can't verbally identify in English. Once we tell him, he repeats it once and often remembers a few days later.
  
• Separates phrases with "ummmm...." [then smacks his lips] when telling us long stories.
  
• Asks "What'dya doin?" when he wonders what we're doing. Or, when it's obvious what we're doing, he still asks like this, "What'dya doin mom? Cookin?" which is super adorable.
  

We've Been Busy...

Which is my lame excuse for the lack of blogging. May kept us occupied - we were finishing our homeschool year with the bigger kids and watching in amazement as Asa's English exploded. By the end of the month, school was over and we had an incredibly verbal little three year old... it was the perfect time for a week long vacation in Orlando.

[asa, as we were packing for the trip]

We explained to Asa that we'd be going on a trip and that we'd come back home when it was over. He went with me to drop Henry the Dog off at the doggie hotel and seemed to understand that it was a temporary arrangement. He pointed at his canine buddy and said, "Henry, stay here. We be back laaaaater."

[walking and sweating in magic kingdom]

Asa already had a little bit of exposure to Disney World. My birthday was in late April and Jim, being the thoughtful hubby he is, got our family annual Disney passes as my gift. We had done a few day trips to Epcot to go on the "Big ball ride" and Magic Kingdom to see "Dickey Mouse" (???) but we were really excited about one full week at a condo only three minutes from the parks. We went to all four parks; Asa saw his first real zoo-type animals in Animal Kingdom and learned about the afternoon summer downpours at Hollywood Studios.

[asa loves buzz]

Our condo had a few fun swimming pools in which we passed a lot of the time, too. We've been teaching Asa how to swim here at home and people at the pools were shocked by how well such a tiny little guy swims underwater. He's our tadpole!

[matching suits for the boys... of course]

[asa dives right in... with mommy nearby]

We all had such a nice time and it was a great way to start the summer. Asa loved the "becation" and I think it was a really good opportunity to teach permanence. His family stayed together even though we weren't in a familiar environment, our home was here and the same when we returned and, as promised, Henry Dog was happily reunited with us.

[konked out in his king size bed at the condo]

We've experienced so much with Asa in his three months here at home. I'll definitely be discussing all the highs (many) and lows (a few) in a future post.