da-doo-doo

Original post: 11/15/06

Not much to say right now - Ben has been doing all the talking lately anyway. He seems to have discovered the back of his throat and all the fun little noises that you can make back there, and if I hear him say the word “no” one more time. . .

Actually, his use of the negative has, for the most part, been rather appropriate. Anna has willingly taught him how to use the word, don’t ask me why, but it still surprises me to hear him use it. For instance, if you ask, “Benjamin, do you want some more carrots?” you’ll hear, “ummmm, no.”

If you ask, “Benjamin, are you ready to take a bath?” He'll state very concisely, “no.”

His use of the word is very clear and you can sense the rationality in his inflection. He really knows what he is saying, unlike so many of the other times when he simply repeats what you've just said.

He is currently learning the alphabet, and once in a while he’ll actually surprise you and say the next letter before you even get to it. Of course sometimes his guesses are a little too premature. Like when you get to “C” and he says “da-doo-doo”.

“No Benjamnin, not yet. A – B – C. . .okay, now Deeee. . .”

“Da-doo-doo.”

“No, no, no. Deeeee. . . . Eeeeee. . .”

“Eck!”

“Nooo, not X. Eeeee. . . Efffffff. . .”

“Effffff”

“Yeah! Good job! Now Geeeee. . .”

“Geeeee. . .”

“H”

“aaych!”

“I”

“eyes!”

“J”

“da-doo-doo!”

“Okay, fine. Fine. W. . . X.”

“Eck!”

“Y”

“eyes”

“And Z!”

“Zeee! Dee-en! [The end] More! More!”


Editor’s Note: This was written several weeks ago, and since then, Ben has filled in quite a few of the holes in his alphabet. His favorite part is L-M-N-O-P, which of course is followed immediately by da-doo-doo, eck, and zeee.