Conversations with My Boys

Matthew is talking, talking, talking these days. He's constantly surprising me with new signs and words. He requests bananas and balls, he comments on the rainy weather and he mourns that Daddy is at work and he is stuck home with Mommy.

A few days ago, he ran to me yelling, "HOT! HOT!" He appeared uninjured and I was puzzled. He grabbed my hand, toddled me to the kitchen and pointed to the pot of water I had boiling on the stove. "HOT!" he commented with a satisfied grin.

While words and signs are lovely for making observations, they can also be downright useful. Over the weekend, Matthew managed to lift the lid of our wooden bench. This feat apparently took every muscle he had, and he was unable to keep the top open. As the lid closed (gently -- it is on a hinge for this very reason), his fingers were trapped underneath. "STUCK!" he called out. "STUCK, STUCK!"

I love this stage of verbal development, when it seems like a miracle that he knows what a bus is and his insistence to "WAAALLLKK" instead of be carried seems like a peek into his psyche. Cameron reminds me of how much more fun is ahead. I can hardly believe that someday Matthew and I will have the kinds of conversations that I now have with Cameron. Recently, Cameron found a feather at the park. "Look!" he exclaimed. "I wonder what this feather came from."

"I bet it is a duck feather," I replied.

"No," Cameron said thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure it's from a panther."

"A panther!?! But panthers don't have feathers!"

"Well, of course I know that Mommy. But it still LOOKS like it could be from a panther."