He has made significant progress on two major fronts: communications and mobility. About a month ago, we noticed that when a cat came into the room, Spud would sometimes babble out the word "diddy" (which could of course be a reference to well-known rap artist P. Diddy.). At first, we thought it may have been random; he babbles a lot of words that sound a lot like actual words (see: Palin, Sarah), but over time it became more and more clear that he was putting the same letters together in reference to actual kitties in the room and was conjuring up his first word. He is officially off and talking!
He's also been saying "Daddy", although this is a tougher call. His favorite consonant by far has always been the letter D. For several months his favorite babble was "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d". So it was an easy jump to "dee dee" and "daa daa" and finally "da dee". Make no mistake, I have been workin' "daddy" heavily, repeating it over and over until he repeats it. One might call this brainwashing. But it hasn't been clear if he's referring to me when he says it, or if he still just likes saying "D" words. Lately he's said it a few times when he actually looks at me, so it might be official word #2. This is entirely unfair to Claire, of course. He doesn't use "M" a lot yet. She carried Spud around for nine months and handled the Herculean 3 a.m. feedings and well over 50% of the diapers, while I've pretty much been mailing in the whole Daddy thing (ok, no not entirely true).
He's also trying to walk, with a little help. He went from total immobility to crawling to standing up (and a couple of days later, to standing up and sitting back down) in only a couple of months. Now, if we hold his hands, he can take little steps and walks around like a pro.
The thing about adult humans is, they are very rarely capable of rapid leaps forward in their physical or mental abilities. Improvement is slow, if it ever happens at all. Months on the StairMaster or years gathering and thoughtfully processing experiences and information are required before an adult person can smile and proclaim themselves to be New and Improved. Mostly, we slowly grow physically softer and emotionally stingier. Yes, Darth Vader went from kicking Luke's ass to giving him gentle fatherly advice in about 17 minutes of screen time. Yes, the Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day. But such rapid and profound changes just don't happen in the real world (baseball players on steroids notwithstanding).
Babies are different. Spud is just an amazing little rapidly-changing human. We are having so very much fun watching him grow up and figure this life stuff out.
YEAH! This is the beginning of the fun part. It's all up hill after this. Walking, talking, feeding himself, booger collages on the wall (inside joke for John), driving, dating, married, his own kids. One of my friends said that the best thing about being a grandparent was watching his kids be parents. I'd tend to agree. And you two are doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteGrandpa Chadwick
Yeah, you were totally mailing it in last night when you sat and rocked him back to sleep for an hour! Slacker!
ReplyDeleteAHA! It's working, just as you planned it; almost precisely as you were told it would. All those random gene segments from the Jordans, Macdonalds, Chadwicks, and Grimms are actually functioning in harmony. Totally awesome.
ReplyDeleteThe learning that Spud does is quantum in its progression, like an electron accumulating energy before it jumps shells. It is somewhat synergistic, also; data bits become ordered and organized into information that exceeds the sum of its elements. Babies' brains collect bits and pieces of apparently-unrelated environmental flotsam and jetsam until they eventually begin to recognize patterns and make connections; little clumps of information are organized separately, then merged into larger orders. Then, the taxonomy is applied, and, VOILA! OMG, there is order in the universe!
Those two big things that he sees moving about in the house and who stuff things into his mouth have some special significance; they seem to be hanging around a lot. All that noise coming out of their top parts actually relate to other things in his environment. His neural network branches and grows. These extensions (arms, hands, legs) to his Central Intake Unit (eyes-ears-nose-lips-tongue array) can be somewhat controlled and manipulated for useful purposes; most importantly, getting yummy stuff into the Texture-Flavor Analysis Module (the not-so-yummy stuff gets expelled from the Module using the Input Manipulator Device). Different environmental settings have different sources of data bits, all of which require ordering and organizing; but there is a larger, Comprehensive Arrangement that can be applied to almost everything. WOW! How cool is this!
By the time Spud is an adolescent in full-blown rebellious mode, he will scare you with how much he learns and how easily he does it. He will not suspect what a gift that is, because he will be dealing with those tricky social situations, which will defy his deftest attempts to order, organize, and understand them. It will strike him that girls are very interesting but weird; so many things that they do make no sense. That part of his environment will challenge the rationale of the Comprehensive Arrangement, and will cause him to question the entire collection within his intellectual data base. (Maybe that's why teenagers become so rebellious.) He may begin to wear strange clothing and adopt the use of incomprehensible verbal constituents. There may be hair issues. Some of his associates may seem like candidates for electro-shock treatment or institutionalized re-education/socialization. You might consider wanting to meet their parents, but will think better of it, imagining yourselves trying to communicate with the likes of the participants and attendees of the Jerry Springer, Sally Jesse Rafael, and Maury Povich TV shows. You will seek solace in watching old movies and listening to "oldies" music, remembering a world that once made some sense to you ...
Potential future nightmare scenarios aside, it is fascinating and inspiring to see your child becoming a real human being. It's the most rewarding experience that anyone can have, in my humble opinion. I hope you both feel that joy and exuberant gratification.
Beer, even really good beer, notwithstanding; it doesn't get any better than this. When he goes away to college and away from your embracing protection, you will weep at the realization that the time has flown so quickly past and there were so many things that you had wanted to do.