Daley Ponderings

While it is impossible to keep up with all of the new words Jonathan can say, there are interesting stories every once in a while (how "interesting" is measured is probably different among the different readers of this blog) and so I like to share them. Also, I realized that sometimes we say he can say things when really only we can tell what he means, so in this post, I will write in quotes what he actually says.We added a light and outlet to a closet in our guest bedroom today, and Jonathan was being quite the helper, screwed three (would have done more, but we didn't need any more) screws entirely by himself. (though I suppose he cheated - used a small electric screwdriver) Later, he had quite a lot of fun with the cordless drill/screwdriver, testing out where he wasn't allowed to use it (the walls, carpet, table, other people, shoes, newly painted cellar floor) and where he was allowed (wood floor in the closet, inside a cardboard box)
I sent him downstairs to ask Mommy to test a battery, and he successfully transmitted that request, I think just by holding the battery and saying "test". He did forget to ask for an extension cord, but I think he wasn't sure if he could say "extension", and so didn't say anything.
Later, he didn't understand my request to some of the yellow caps from the container, but later asked Heather for the "tainer", and Heather didn't know what he meant until he pointed at it, though she didn't know what word he was using until I told her.
By the way, Jonathan often says things that we have no idea what he is saying, but he is quite intent on repeating them until we understand. "Prain" is a common one, which sometimes means train, playing, or plane, but sometimes means something else. He won't usually give up if we keep guessing, though sometimes he is discouraged when I repeat back the word how he pronounced it. I think maybe it sounds different in his own head or something and once I say it, he realizes he is saying it wrong and doesn't know how to explain it otherwise and so gives up.
On to the real reason I started this post -- while making dinner tonight, I was cutting up "may-nos" and "tay-tos", and we had a small conversation - "tomato", "may-no", etc. At dinner, he initially didn't want to eat one of the mushrooms, as it was a, "messy mushroom", with messy defined as had a tomato seed on it. (Uncle Josh might have a friend in not liking tomatoes unless they are two degrees about room temperature) After eating a piece of lettuce, he went back to the mushroom, eyed it suspiciously, but did pick it up (tomato seed side down) and touched it to his tongue, and then complained about the "may-no", holding it out for me to remove it, and I suggested turning it tomato side up (and thus farther away from his tongue) and he ate it quite happily.
He pronounced his potato "too hot", and blew on it. Then he ate some of it, but pronounced it a "little picy" (sometimes the s is there, sometimes not), and offered it to me to clean off the sauce (which I obliged). Then he ate the rest of the potato all in one bite, and then, finding his mouth full of a still at least partially spicy potato, asked to take it out, "plate", which we allowed, and he said, "much". (After that he did say "too much" a couple of times in response to my query of whether he was going to eat more of the potato, though after I broke it up a little, he did have some smaller bites). He said tay-to a number of times, and I responded PO-tato, and then I asked him to say "po", to which he responded, "po-tato", and was pretty thrilled with himself and our cheers. He said potato once or twice after that with a slight pause before getting the entire word out correctly.
He did show a fair amount of concern for Heather's "bandan", and that she was "hut" on her "pinky" (toe).
Tonight we read, "hop on pop", and "sam", and afterwards he said a number of the phrases, "not a box", "not a f-fox", "not a pree", etc., "hop on pop. stop". Jonathan did look at me slightly strangely (but didn't entirely reject the idea) when I said, "not in the dark, not in the park" (that phrase isn't in the story, for the non-Dr.-Suess-readers). I got a stranger look from, "I will not eat green eggs and ham on Pop, you let me be."