...but I don't WANT to!

Lennon saw that I had some scratches on my face and he pointed to the same spot on his face saying, "I like your marks."

A group of older elementary children passed us on the way to the tennis courts, he looked up and smiled, then waved and said, "Hi! I'm Lennon." He was disappointed when they didn't respond.

Yesterday he was in the car when he began crying and shrieking from the back seat. "I blest you! I blest you! I blest you!"I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong until my son said, "He sneezed. He needs a tissue."

He has discovered communication is very useful. He wanted Daddy to come help him get on the slide and Gramma to catch him. Pretending not to understand, I kept trying to follow him up the slide. Finally he stopped, pointed at me and said, "You! Gramma Angell. Down there!" Pointing at the bottom of the slide. Then he looked at his father and said, "You! Daddy! Come up here. Now!"

He wasn't trying to be bossy. He was trying to be clear. Ask him to do something he does not want to do and he will insist very clearly, "but I don't WANT to do that." Daddy will tell him why we must (go home, eat lunch, take a nap, not hit the dog) and he will respond, "but I don't WANT to stop hitting the dog" He will do it. He just wants to be clear about how he feels.

Sometimes my son does something just because it is cute to watch, like giving him a whole, uncut sandwich just to watch him eat it, but he takes words so seriously that they have very few euphemisms. There are a few and the way they have re-emerged has been a lesson on why not to use them! But these are anecdotes for the baby book, not the Internet.