Sawyer says ...

Sawyer has really started talking a lot. Stringing together long sentences, which are understandable about half the time. At least I get the gist of what he’s saying most of the time. These are some of the funny things I’ve overheard him saying recently …


Phone manners
The toy kitchen Sawyer got for Christmas came with a cordless phone. The other morning for school, as I was gathering coats and hats and his lunchbox, he picked it up and say, “Hey, hehro. Blah blah blah, blah blah. Milk, eggs, bread, cheese, etc. Bye.” And then he hung up.


Reading books
Sawyer has pretty much memorized all the train books I got him for his birthday. Not surprising since I think we’ve read most of them at least twice a day since then. One of them, “Engine, Engine Number 9,” has a page that talks about Sal’s prize roosters. When I read them I usually leave off the last words and Sawyer fills them in. The other day, this is how he ended the line … Look at us; hear us (crow) … bok bok bok bok.” Clucking like a chicken.


Colorblind?
We're working hard on learning colors. After Sawyer picked up the alphabet and numbers so quickly, I just assumed colors wouldn't be so hard. Either I was wrong or Sawyer is colorblind. Or maybe noticing colors is a girl thing? His go-to color is green, or "geen." If he has to take a guess at something, it's likely "geen." But one of his other favorite train books, "Freight Train," has a rainbow of cars. "Red. Arranjj. Yeah-woh. Geen. Bue. Puhpull. Back." It amuses me to hear his pronunciations. But I do have hope that he's learning them. On our walk, he pointed out some "fowers." What color are they, I asked. "Puhpull." He was right. They were puhpull pansies.


Hank’s buddy
Hank has taken to sleeping in Sawyer’s room. So now Sawyer wants to take a nap on the rug beside him. And he wants to give him treats a lot. He helped me cut Hank’s claws by feeding him bits of cheese. And last night I heard him in the living room saying, “Good dog.” Today, we walked to the park and I hooked Hank up to the swings while we played. Sawyer was running in circles and made a dead stop, looked up and said, “Where’d Hank go?”


Corrections
On our walk today, we heard some dogs barking and Sawyer said, “Puppies!” I said, “Do you hear those dogs barking?” He said, “No, not dogs, puppies.”


Frosty
I bought Sawyer a book called “All You Need for a Snowman” at Goodwill because A) it was cute, B) it was $1 and C) he loves snowmen. He was a little cranky when we left because he didn’t want to leave the toy section, so I gave him the book to look at in the car. For about half the ride home (a good 10-12 minutes), he sang, “Foffy Noman. Happy soul. Po-po pipe. Buppon nose. Eyes out of coal.” Over and over and over. I wanted to cry it was so darned cute.


Cleanup, Aisle 4
I often let Sawyer have breakfast or a snack in the den while I work on my computer or (shhhh, don’t tell) try to catch a few more Zzzz’s. The other morning, we were in there and he was holding his cup at his train table, when he turned around to me and said, “Mama! Tissue (and pointed to the box of them). Milk (pointing to the table).” I handed him one and he wiped up the spilled milk. Good thing I was lying down!


Welcome home
When I come home for dinner, as soon as the door is a few inches open, I hear him, “Mama! Mama! Mama here. Uhh-huhh! Uhh-huhh.” I can hear him in the den, jumping up and down, sometimes clapping. He is usually standing on the gate waiting for me. It sure is nice to be loved.