Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Wednesday

Talking on the Telephone


John hadn't yet begun talking on the telephone, not that we had tried very hard to teach him. When Chris calls from a business trip, John listens with rapt interest, but remains silent. Today, John's Grampa Neil discovered quite by accident how to get John to talk. Neil said to John over the phone, "toot toot!" and John answered back, "toot toot!" Afterward I got Chris on the phone and he had the following conversation with his son as now we were finally speaking "John's language":


"What sound does a train make?" ("toot toot!")

"What sound does a cat make?" ("meow!")

"What sound does a dog make? ("woof woof!")

"What sound does a duck make?" ("quack!")


A Mother's Courage


After dinner, John and I went into the backyard to pick up sticks. Our trees shed a tremendous number of medium to large sticks, so picking up sticks and throwing them into the "back 40" is a regular family chore. I was picking up sticks when John walked straight into a giant spider web. He's not yet afraid of spiders, but the web encasing his head and body really alarmed him, so he was doing the dance we all do when we walk into a spider web. Reminiscent of a scene from the movie Backdraft when the firemen race straight into the flames to save innocent lives, I, too, ran straight into that spider web to get to save John, getting myself covered in nasty web in the process. What is it with me encountering spiders around here?

2 comments:

  1. You moved into a lush neighborhood. Spiders love trees, bushes and dark spaces. They can be very pretty, too. Go back to that same spot early tomorrow morning when the dew is still out and you might see a big garden spider still on its web. We have one on one of our windows (outside) that John Joseph loves to watch.

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