the itsy bitsy spider

I had a lot of hope about teaching the boy sign language. I attended an introductory class. I read a book,  the studied the flashcards a number of times.

From the first day we fed him solid foods I was using the sign I thought that kids need most. Two hands facing each other, fingers pursed, like two birds kissing. Tap tap: “More?” I used the “W” against my cheek for “Water.” The one bird up to my lips “Food.”

He’s thoroughly entertained when I sing and sign the two songs I learned from that class, “Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light,” and “Walking Walking.”

He talks and talks, yes, but the signs? Not a one comes back at me.

I’m not complaining. I think it’s funny. It’s so him, really.

This weekend, we noticed lots of new words:

Bowl, Spoon, Huge, Whale, Queen, Door, Out, Down, Go, and Spider.

Before, when I reported that he’d said Spiderman, it was from reading him his Spiderman book, and him saying “Mmmann.”

But now he says Spider. It comes out like this: “Bai-yurr.”

And here’s what kills me: He says it and does the little hand gesture from the song “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” (He loves that song too.)

So that’s it. His first sign. Probably not the real sign for Spider. But still.

Saturday night, we were at my cousin’s wedding, sitting at a table near the door to the patio. A big black spider was climbing up the tablecloth, heading for the centerpiece. “Bai-yurr! Bai-yurr!” Jonah said, making the gesture.

He knows the word, the “sign,” and the creature.

I’m bursting. Seriously. (He may have heard us say it before he saw it, but still.)

Or maybe it’s his second sign, if you count the little curled-hand wave he invented for Bye. Or his third, if you count the funny way he slides his hands past one another like he’s Lady Macbeth but happier — which one might think is his way of clapping but actually he’s doing the hand gesture from the middle of the song Bippity Boppity Bippity Boo (a rock is in my pocket) which we learned from singing circle at Sadie Dey’s Cafe and I can’t find the lyrics on the Internet anywhere. Sorry. Meet me at the cafe on Tuesday at 11:30 and Miss Nanci will teach it to you, too.

Listening to Jonah learn how to talk, he sounds like he just moved here from a foreign country. Maybe China, or somewhere in Africa. It’s not just the words and concepts, but wrapping his mouth around these unfamiliar sounds. He adds all sorts of flourishes.

My favorite example is Turtle. As far as I know, he’s only ever seen them once or twice on our trips to the Vivarium, and in his Dr. Seuss ABC book, on the page for the letter T (Ten Tired Turtles in a Tuttle Tuttle Tree) — and in general I wonder at the value of learning anything from Dr. Seuss books because 95% of the creatures and plant life are completely made up and even the ones that aren’t, like dogs, cats, fish, and turtles, look almost NOTHING like their real-life counterparts.

And yet, the other day when I was walking through hippie health mecca Elephant Pharmacy, getting last minute trip supplies, Jonah grabbed this wooden massage tool from a display of them — different animal shapes with knobs at the ends of their legs instead of feet for pushing into knotty muscles — and was talking to it. At first all I’m hearing is a babble of sounds trippling off his tongue and then suddenly the word is there, so clear: “Tu-ru-u-leh.”

I almost wish he’d keep the way he says it.

He saw a painting of a turtle at the Aquarium on Saturday morning and started saying it again, over and over, with a little upward inflection, so hopeful.

Sadly, other than the mural, there were no turtles there. Fortunately, the fish displays were adequately spellbinding and he soon forgot. But until I can get him a stuffed turtle or other turtle toy or (gasp) a real turtle, I’m not going to say the word out loud for fear he’ll get all mournful again.

And speaking of mournful, I hope nothing is truly wrong with our cat. The boy loves this cat so much it’s crazy.

As we were parking the car in front of the house this afternoon, having just returned from the airport, the boy said:

“Home.”

And then, “Bo!”

And then, “Meow?”

(We’ll be getting the results from the next test — first several tests showed nothing out of the ordinary — next week.)