Talking

Grant has entered that phase of life during which he talks. All. The. Time.

It's constant. Without ceasing. He's very polite and well behaved, but his quest to understand the universe around him through endless inquiry is wearing down his parents (who quite frankly don't have a clue as to how to answer most of his questions).

A couple of days ago, as we got into the minivan (a place where he's guaranteed to have to duke it out with momma for ear time with daddy), I explained to him very calmly that he didn't need to talk 100% of the time. I told him that there were times when he would need to be quiet, and now was one of those times. He very calmly replied, "OK daddy. Some day I'll understand you." Thanks.

In addition to being without end, his questions frequently leave me unable to even make up a good answer. Some sample exchanges:

"Daddy, what color is that car?"
"Blue."
"Do you like blue?"
"Yes, blue is a nice color, Grant."
"Have you ever seen a blue dinosaur?"
"Nope."
"But why?"

---------

"Daddy, have you ever seen 'Star Wars'?" (A movie his mother won't let him see until after high school graduation, no doubt.)
"Yep, I've seen it."
"Where did you see it?"
"I don't really remember. Probably at home."
"Why did you see it there?"
"Because that's where I was."
"I saw it in Africa when I was older. Have you ever been to Africa?"
"Nope."
"Why?"

---------

"Daddy, do you like my train?"
"Yes, it's a neat train that makes neat sounds."
"Have you ever seen it?"
"Yes, that's how I know it makes neat sounds."
"Why have you seen it?"

(Daddy's brain explodes.)

Grace is also starting to wade into the speaking pool. She only has a few complete sentences, but they serve her well. "Get away from me," "I want that," and "Serve me, infidel" are three of her favorites.

Her other favorite thing right now is to sing. She sings in the car all the time. Mostly she sings the melody of various songs and just mumbles gibberish for the words. My favorite is that she sings the "A, B, C's" using all "zh" and "c" sounds.

"zh zh zh zh zh zh zh"
"shir shir shir shir shir shir shir shir shir"
"ch ch ch ch ch ch"
"zh zh zh zh zh zh"

Unfortunately this letter substitution occurs frequently with Grace. "Milk" is "Mop," "Coat" is "Coke" and most unfortunate is what she calls her "Sock" (I'll give you a hint...it rhymes with "Sock" but it ain't a sock.)

Grant can actually sing very well now, when he slows down to do so. Just last week, they sang a bunch of Beatles tunes at day care. It only took us an additional week to convince Grant that the Beatles 1968 hit single was NOT, in fact, called "Hey Jew." Kids...