Papa Joe

This past week was the first that really felt like spring. We had our first official thaw, although a few patches of snow still remain in the shade. The air smells like moist soil and there are a few perky green shoots coming through the wet leaves in our garden. It's a time of great optimism and growth.

Alden and Joseph had a great time together this week. We had Alden signing "grandfather" before Joseph returned to Eugene, (although to be fair, the sign for "grandfather" and the sign for "uncle Ben" look pretty much the same - a flailing open hand). Alden distinguishes his signs now by adding a verbal "pa" when he's asking for Joseph. He's been asking about him all weekend, especially at mealtimes, so he's clearly missing his Papa Joe. Other oft used words are "DIS!" and "DAT!", accompanied by emphatic pointing and/or a headlong dive in the direction of the object of interest. He's discovered bread (ba), which he loves to put in his mouth (ath). He's also signing "more" and "out".

Joseph taught Alden the barnyard animal sounds. When I came home from work on Tuesday, Joseph proudly announced that Alden could now speak cow, sheep, goat and a kind of rooster - his cockadoodle doo is "lahdle, lahdle, lahdle". Alden also recognizes ducks (which he is particularly fond of) as anything yellow and fluffy. They also apparently say "gaga". Alden learned the animal sounds while reading a barnyard peekaboo book with Joseph 6,438 times. I think grandparents have so much more patience when it comes to this sort of thing. I start fantasizing about gauging out my eyes after a mere 300 times through the same book, but it seems that any grandparent will happily oblige, no matter how many times the kid squeals "Dis! Dis!" and flips back to the beginning.
The animal noises now apply to finger puppets. Sheep, bee and duck sounds are his favorites. We're working on some others, such as the horse and the dog. However, we're at a loss for what to do with the remaining animals, like the crab and the dinosaurs, for example. Alden holds them up and looks at us quizzically, as if asking us "what sound does this thing make?" The only response I've been able to come up with is to mutter something under my breath and try to direct his attention to another puppet. Kerstin's response is to make action noises, like "pinch pinch" or "stomp, stomp".

We've amassed a small army of finger puppets, only a few of which have been given proper names: Math Lamb, Rhythm Crab and Tetrapus. We've noticed that there are other cephalopod finger puppets out there with missing tentacles. I'm not sure if it's too difficult for manufacturers to make them anatomically correct, or if it's just cuter this way. In either case, it's nice to know that Tetrapus has a cousin on the west coast who's a little more evolutionarily advanced.