Simon likes language. I know that sounds silly, but what I mean is that he is very aware of the words and expressions he uses and tries to experiment with them. I’m hoping this foreshadows a lifelong interest in the written and spoken word. Until then, I’m enjoying the fruits of his unique idiolect.
Being only four, his experimentation often yields malapropisms. When he was a mere toddler, we were entertained by Simon’s attempt to use the word “embarrass” correctly. As in, “Bubbie, I’m embarrassed that the [traffic] light is still red.”
This past week, we had two doozies:
“Mommy! Don’t hug me so much. You’ll make my teeth hurt.”
Huh? And:
“Mommy, I’m so hungry I can hardly freak out!”
Then there’s his attempt to establish a timeline for his narrative. He struggles with the concepts of days, weeks, months, and years, so has settled on a catch-all for “time before now.” It’s “when I was three.” As in:
“Mommy, last week, when I was three, I chased Baron.”
Or:
“Last week, when I was three, I got a time-out for touching Gabrielle’s hair.”
In the first instance, it’s the “last week” part that is accurate; in the latter, it’s the “when I was three.” Mommy did have a little scare there imagining that her son got a timeout for harassing the same little girl twice.
And finally, there are the hilarious verbal meanderings that result from Simon’s exposure to different cultures and language. Like this:
“What starts with Q, Simon” [Q was the theme letter of last week.]
“Kwanzaa!” [Kwanzaa was one of the festivals covered in the pre-vacation holiday unit.]
“Actually, honey, Kwanzaa starts with—-“
“Can I get a purple lightsaber for Kwanzaa?”
Or this:
“Last week, when I was three, I went to see a movie called Arba’a. [Arba’a is the Hebrew word for four.] It was a number game.”
I would do anything for a chance to see and experience the world from his perspective for a day. It’s fascinating to witness how much his thoughts and expressions are clear and like mine at one minute, and then so opaque and alien the next.