there is the slow growth which reveals itself in spurts and moments of realisation. “oh man these pajamas are already too small for him” and then there is the growth where the progress is tangible enough to taste. some of the first hints i’ve had that i’m dealing with an intelligent being and not some glorified pet was the Cause & Effect reactions he began to develop round about the 2nd month. of course, there was the shallow-slumber, startling-awake, freak-out wake-ups we’d endure when a loud noise was made. then came the smiles.
there is the slow growth which reveals itself in spurts and moments of realisation. “oh man these pajamas are already too small for him” and then there is the growth where the progress is tangible enough to taste. some of the first hints i’ve had that i’m dealing with an intelligent being and not some glorified pet was the Cause & Effect reactions he began to develop round about the 2nd month. of course, there was the shallow-slumber, startling-awake, freak-out wake-ups we’d endure when a loud noise was made. then came the smiles.
at first on their own seemingly without specific causes. then later, there arose a distinct pattern to the smiles. we had insane success with getting the lil dood to smile on cue. wether it be an open-mouth to bare-belly fart or simply the gobbley-gook JudeSpeak one hears around our house, he had a smile for us that took over his whole face. and they’re all day long. when he first sees us in the morning: he’s smiling. when you sneak a peek at him to see if he’s still awake or finally asleep: he’s smiling. when you reach around to console him when he’s fussy in the car: he’s smiling. his smiles even have him at-odds with his other emotions, for when he’s cranky enough to burst into screams, you can throw him a curve by squeaking a kiss on his neck. this puts him into a fit of dualing emotions as the smile cuts thru thru the furled brow as if he were a Muppett.
he had begun to use his voice around the same time. the only patern here being that he was most vocal when he was beating his rhino or in a session with his therapy-bears. sometimes he’s pipe-off a few sentences while he swung watching melrose with anna in the mornings. yet it was at mario’s BBQ in early to mid-august where something spectacular happened. he had just pounded 8 ounces and was being sat upright on my knee facing out towards the party-goers. he just began to orate. it was very important that he hear himself say what he had to say. it seemed that the more he heard himself, the more he would speak. he wasnt playing with the volume of his voice so much as the articulation of the voice. it sounded so authentic that the only missing element was the subtitles underneath him. From then on out, he took advantage of the post-feed-knee to express his opinions. and it hasnt stopped there. he’s liable to sit in his swing and have lengthy conversations with the telly, his llama, or just with himself.
and here enters The Screech. In his first call & response action, he had a week where he was practicing his squeals of delight. Yet, not so much on his own, by himself. No. These were in direct response & reaction to similar noises from anna or myself. Anna would hit a pitch like bird, and a few seconds later, he’s respond with a pitch & decibels that would shatter a wineglass. One right after the other. Call & Response. But about the 24th consecutive hour of this, we thought it best to cease & desist. They were cute, but highly disturbing for the hour before bedtime. But The Screech is gone. For when we stopped the bird noises, so did he. And now we cannot get him to do them again, at all. Now that they’re gone, we miss them.
Yet, in the week since i wrote this, he’s begun something that just trumps them all…
(Originally Posted: 2003_1001)