Thursday, October 4, 2007

Linguistics

Matthew is a lover of words. He likes to say them, hear them, and repeat them. I think he likes the feel of them on his tongue. This is especially true of certain words that produce ripples of laughter when he says them. Every once in awhile, a new one tickles his imagination, and we all end up laughing at the sound of the word as Matthew says it, giggles, and repeats and repeats.

It began last spring. In the early mornings, when only Matthew and I are awake, he brings me books to read. One morning in the spring, he brought me Everybody Needs a Rock. Unsure whether he would really hang in there to listen to the text of this book (he was just over two then), we climbed into the rocking chair and began.

As I read, it became apparent that he was listening. He was sitting very still and observing the pictures. Then suddenly, as I read "...lumpy..." He looked up at me.

"Lumpy?" he asked.

"Lumpy," I confirmed.

He began to giggle. "Lumpy.....(giggle)...lumpy..(more giggles)...LUMPY (gales of laughter)..."

That was how it began. Since then, he has also found words like "silly" and "wishy-washy" and "Dunkin' Donuts" to be highly amusing. There are others, too, that I have forgotten. I always wish that I would write these things down as they happen. Maybe with this blog I will get better at that, I don't know.

Tonight he came back to lumpy and it was newly amusing for him (and for us). I wonder where this love of the sounds and feel of words will lead him?

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