Cerin Amroth

My repertoire of bedtime songs is admittedly limited.  I do a handful of standards, a couple hymns, and then a couple of personal favorites thrown in for good measure.  But Dominic has only recently come off a months-long period of rejecting bedtime songs, the same way he rejects stuffed animals in his crib or a blanket over his body when he goes to sleep.  The past couple weeks he’s been asking for songs, though, so I’ve been going through the rotation.

Now, with bedtime books, Dominic is highly opinionated, and will pick out exactly the ones he wants read each night.  Tonight the same selectiveness transferred to bedtime music.

“Song,” he said as I laid him in his crib.  I started singing “Sleep, Dominic,” my own invention and by far the most common one.  “No, no,” said Dominic after a few notes.  “Seep.  Song.  No.”

Thus began a five-minute long exercise trying to figure out which song he wanted.  His babbles weren’t much help in sorting it out, and once he even flirted with the notion of trying to sing it himself but quickly abandoned that idea.  I tried everything, starting with the standards, but after a bar or two he’d cut me off: “No, no.  SONG.”

So what was the one that finally did the trick?  “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd.  Go figure.  I have no idea if that’s the one he had in mind or if he was too tired to care at that point.

Dominic starts talking first thing in the morning, but you need a bit of experience and context to understand his one-syllable communication style. I get up with him during the week to have a bit of time before I head to work. As a result, “Mom” or “Mama” are the first words out of his mouth. I usually change his diaper right away and then go to the bathroom.

He hates it when I put him down while I use the toilet. I’ve found that I can placate him if I give him a vitamin as soon as I enter the bathroom. He’s come to expect this, so he immediately says “wye” as soon as we enter the room. He has opted for the German pronounciation of the v as a w.

After that, we head downstairs. He asks for “mil” next. I usually say, “What do you say, Dom.” This is partly to remind him to say please, but mostly to ensure that I see one of my favorite things. He intertwines his fingers (as if to pray), lifts his folded hands up toward me, and says “plee.” I just can’t get enough of that.

Then we head to the couch. Since he insists on getting up between 5:30 and 6, I try to get a few more minutes relaxation by laying down on the couch with him while he drinks his milk. If I’m lucky, he’ll fall asleep for a few more minutes before Ella wakes up. When Ella comes down, he usually cheers and says “Aha, El.”

Inevitably, Ella will ask whether they can watch TV, and Dom will race to the basement door, point downstairs, and say “t.” Since they don’t watch TV on weekday mornings, I then have the lovely reaction of crying from both of them. If I’m lucky, they’ll both stage a protest by laying down on the floor and crying. Big D learned this technique from Ella. It’s such a lovely start to the new day. Makes me want to think of something to request a “please” for.

We were fortunate enough to receive an invitation to a warm place to enjoy the inauguration. We headed out to a bus to the Metro shortly after 9. After watching two packed blue line trains go through the station, we found a spot on a train. We even found someone willing to lend us a seat. We spent the day at a law firm at 17th and Pennsylvania – right at the end of the parade route. Nate’s dad also drove down from Michigan to join the celebration. He braved the cold weather, but then joined us indoors for the parade. Here are a few pictures from the momentous day.

Dominic adores her, that’s for sure.  He can’t wait to see her every day after she gets out of preschool.  And she has a hold on him others do not:

Me:  Hey Dominic, come here and let’s put your coat and shoes on!

Dom:  <smiles impishly and moves in the opposite direction>

Me:  Come on, D!  We’re going to pick up Mama!  It’ll be exciting!

Dom:  <climbs up on a stool and tries to open Ella’s LEGO box>

Ella:  Come on, buddy, I’ll help you with your shoes!

Dom:  <climbs down and runs to Ella with a big smile on his face>

She does call him “buddy,” too.  It’s cute.  But being beholden to your elder sibling can have its dark side.  In the grocery store yesterday one of the managers, the type who clearly doesn’t know how to act around kids but is desperate to ingratiate himselves with them, walked up and asked if they wanted balloons.  He was looking at Ella first, and she adopted her all-to-typical “I am fourteen years old and what, are you crazy?!” expression and shook her head no.  “What about the little guy?” the manager said.  And there was poor Dominic, who you could tell from every inch of his posture and every pore in his face wanted a balloon like nothing else in the world, but his sister had just said “No,” so what could he do?  He shook his head in the most hesitant, tragic way possible for a two-year-old.  This all went right past the manager, of course, so I said “I think he’s just saying no because his sister is,” and he went to get a couple balloons.

And came back with blue for D and pink for Ella.  Ella shot me a glance that said “I know I’m supposed to be polite but this ballon is freakin’ pink, what the hell should I do?”  Fortunately, Dominic let go of his blue balloon right away and it went floating up into the rafters, so Ella gave him the pink one and she went without and we were all perfectly happy with the result.

Dominic’s word count jumped significantly over the holidays. He’s still mostly using the first syllable of words only, but some second syllables are starting to creep in. He’s also still using cute hand gestures to accompany the words. He became expert at these to communicate what he wanted when his word count was still low. Here’s a sampling of his current vocabulary:

Mama – He still uses my name most frequently. He loves to use it in the car repeatedly as a way to get me to turn around and look at him. As soon as I do, he points absentedly out the window, as if he had something to show me. The only way I can get the shower of Mamas to end is by looking at him continuously.

Plee for please – He’s become expert at looking cute while he does this, thereby increasing his chances for getting what he wants. I think it’s still mostly genuine, not manipulative. Somehow, he picked up the fact that putting his hands together with laced fingers infront of him is the proper protocol.

No – We had been hearing this only occasionally, but now it’s the immediate reaction to any question that you ask. Usually, he will oblige to do whatever you want if you’re persistent or just take his “No” for a yes.

Nose - only a bit of the “s” comes out for this word, enough to distinguish it from “No.” He uses this word most lately after pinching your nose with his thumb and forefinger and pretending that he stole your nose. Fortunately, he puts it right back after you realize what he has done.

El – He can say Ella’s full name, but he usually chooses the shortened variety. This is typically accompanied by a tap or punch on the shoulder, pulling at the sleeve, or tug of the hair – depending on the urgency and amount of her attention.

Crap – Of course, this was the first word he repeated back to me expertly. I’ve now heard him use it as his own exclamation of frustration.

Shoot – This also comes mostly as mimicking.

Mil for milk – Fortunately, his timing for this one is still mostly predictable, otherwise, it would be tough to distinguish. If we’re near the fridge, he also accompanies it with a few steps and a point in that direction.

Ju for juice – Same as above.

Chee for cheese – If you fein ignorance on this one, he’ll still wave his fists in the air and add “Graa” for Gromit.

PO hehm – This is his first quasi sentence. It came accompanied with his hands on the top of his head and an “Uh oh” look on his face. We figured out that he was trying to communicate his amazement at the fact that he was not able to put a helmet on the C3PO lego figure. When he first realized this, he would use the phrase over and over again.

And the cutest thing he does without any words at all is put out his hands to people on either side of him to indicate he wants to hold hands and pray. He mostly does this before meals, but has also been known to do it while we’re at the table praying games.