in his own words

Ever since Kara suggested I have the “Pokiboh” shirt made (and thanks to President Bill’s immediate response to my inquiry at Temporarylanguage.com, there’s now an accompanying image) I’ve been wanting to make a list of Jonah’s recent creative pronunciations of things.

(Update: just ordered Pokiboh shirt. Discount coupon available here.)

And then I sit down to write and I can’t remember any of them…

Today he launched a three word sentence into the atmosphere.

He’s very interested in the tiny unripe Japanese plums that are falling from our trees in this windy weather, collecting on the back walkway. He’s handled them once already, knows what they are, has pronounced “Like it!” while holding one. I am working very very hard to impress upon him that they are YUCKY.

This afternoon, he looked outside the window at a small pile of them and demanded to go “Side-uh” (outside) to see the “Plumz!”

So I said, “No, Jonah. Yucky.”

And he replied, with great conviction, “Look At It!”

Well, if you’re only going to look, then okay.

On the plus side, Scott hates how those little plums pile up and rot on the ground in our yard. Jonah appears quite content to gather them into a bowl. This could be useful. Until he figures out it’s a chore, not a game. Wish us luck.

Then we were playing with the bowl of hard, small, inedibles on the kitchen floor. “Throw!” he said, trying to pitch one into the bowl, missing it, and sending the plum rolling under the portable dishwasher.

“It’s under the dishwasher,” I pointed out, as I do, in that way I talk to him about stuff that just is.

“Deesh wah shurrr,” he hazarded, attempting to form his mouth around the word.

* * *

Getting back to other updates. About dates. Scott and I got not one, but two — COUNT ‘EM! TWOOOOO! — movie dates in while we were in L.A., staying with my parents, who are, it turns out, much better babysitters in their own home than when they come to visit us; as visiting us entails exhausting activities such as air travel, staying at a motel, having your entire routine disrupted, etc.

So, first we saw I Love You, Man; and then the next night, Duplicity. It wasn’t like there were a ton of movies to choose from, but I did enjoy both immensely.

Scott pointed out that acutally, each movie we’ve managed to get to see in the last 16 months (total number? Six, including these two in L.A.) I’ve enjoyed more thoroughly and with more gusto than anyone else in the theater. We’ve decided that basically, while a positive experience overall, motherhood has also essentially been a sensory deprivation tank. At least my version of motherhood which lacks family in town for free babysitting.