Wednesday, February 18, 2009

U.F.O.

Of course when I had to return to work yesterday morning Landon woke up all smiley and happy and non-screamy. You can see the tops of four big molars sticking out of his gums and I'm very glad he has a pause in his marathon of mouth pain, the poor kid really does not handle teething well. His mom doesn't either.

It was still daylight when I got home from work so I decided to pull Landon in the wagon for what should have been a quick walk to the community mailbox. Twenty minutes later we were only three houses down the street because Landon was the one pulling the wagon and I was NOT allowed to touch it. Apparently now that he's a MAN and all grown-up and ambulatory (and drinking from an open-top cup thankyouverymuch), he can pull the wagon BY HIMSELF, and should I attempt to unobtrusively nudge it in the right direction, he will launch himself head first into the nearby grass. Thus, progress was slow.

But slow and steady was fine as it gave me lots of time to nod along with Landon's steady commentary on our surroundings. He got a Big Truck Book for Christmas and even though there's only one bus among a dozen varieties of truck, he has taken to calling any wheeled vehicle a bus. I think he just likes the word- sometimes he repeats it quietly over and over to himself, always with a pleased little smile on his face. JP and I keep correcting him when the object he's pointing at is a train or car or truck, but he just shakes his head at his silly, uninformed parents and emphatically exclaims, "Bus!". Apparently we've already passed the phase where he thinks we're smarter than him.

As we were slowly making our way to the mailbox Landon was pointing out all the buses (cars) on the street. Suddenly, a small plane roared overhead. Landon looked up, surprised to see something vehicle-like in the air instead of on the ground where it belonged. I seized the opportunity to introduce something that was clearly NOT a bus and said, "Look Landon, a plane! Can you say plane?" He looked at me, very focused and a bit perplexed, and started to say "p..." "p..." while I nodded enthusiastically, repeating the word "plane"- and then his face cleared as he realized what that crazy flying vehicle must be, and he said with absolute certainty and a bit of ghusto: "Bus." He then gave a firm head nod in satisfaction of identifying the flying object and continued on his way, with the big wagon and his mis-labeling mother trailing behind.

13 comments:

  1. Glad you got a reprieve on the teething - we are in teething hell here as well. Bah.

    I love the I Know More Than You phase - Anjali is really into dinosaurs, but argues with me when I try to specify the different between a T-rex and an allosaurus (No! Dinosaur! Because I am an idiot, apparently.) At least it this stage is far more adorable in a 19month old than it is in a 3 year old. That is for damned sure.

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  2. Hey, if the plane had been larger, he might have been right. It could have been an airbus!

    I am just glad we are not to the demanding to do things completely like a big person yet. AJU5 still allows for correction by an adult...

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  3. LOL! We live under the O'Hare flight pattern so I used to joke that my son Henry was like Tattoo - ze plane! ze plane!

    If you don't already have one, get the Little People Bus. Someone gave us one for Henry's 1st birthday and now that he is 2 he STILL loves that bus (as do his buddies who come over to play)!

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  4. What a warmly-illustrated vignette. That made me smile. Thanks!

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  5. I love it! Eden calls every bird "duck" and every vehicle "choo-choo" (the light rail line runs past the window at daycare). And I had the same thing happen to me when I corrected her - the toddler equivalent of "Mom, you are SO clueless."

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  6. Ah, I envy him. Sometimes I wish I had that kind of clarity on things. :)

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  7. BWAHAHAHA!

    If it makes you feel any better, mine knows some colors, now. Chiefly blue, green, red, and yellow. While he can clearly identify OTHER things that are those colors, every single ball is "blue." If he sees a red box? He's like, "red!" If he sees a red ball? He says, "BLUEBALL!" I guess this has something to do with the fact that he calls blueberries "blue balls," too, but still. We keep trying. "YELLOW BALL," I say. He points to a yellow block. "Yellow," he says. And then he points to the yellow ball. "BLUE BALL," he says.

    *sigh*

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  8. At least he is getting in on it early! My 16 year old is starting to educate his old, old parents about the ways of the world. Thank goodness we are still good enough when he needs money or a ride somewhere (eye roll). One day, Dear Landon, you will learn just how smart Mommy and Daddy really are :)

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  9. aww cute! What a big boy!

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  10. Hee

    I took my niece to the beach. She saw seagulls sitting in the sand and said "Ducks!"

    I said, yes, they are like ducks, they're seagulls.

    Then the seagulls in the playground: "Ducks" she said, I said "Yes they are like ducks -they're seagulls"

    After playing in the playground we went back to the car: To the seagulls on the beach: she said "like ducks"

    We saw some more LikeDucks later.

    She went through a phase where the answer to "what colour is it" was always "Red" but now she's three she picked up the colours

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  11. AJU5's Mom beat me to it - I was going to suggest that perhaps someday he might be a pilot and ask if there was any possbility that was an airbus flying overhead. :D

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  12. Just too cute... "mislabeling mother" trailing behind..."

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  13. Oh I remember the "push" phase. First it was the stroller, then the wagon, the anything and everything. They are so determined that you just can't tell them no. They are so focused on the task and ofcourse you cannot touch it at all. As toddlers have proved to us time and time again, we know nothing...until in a few weeks when he gets stuck and is asking for help but you don't realize it and a meltdown starts. Be ready.

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