This and That

Our toddler son Judah has a new favorite book. It's about sharks. He brings this book to me at least ten times a day. Always opened to this page.



He's morbidly fascinated with it.

Sort of like my sister Jami and I when we were little girls, opening one of our Bible Story books to a very evil looking picture of Lucifer, shuddering in fear, then slamming it shut. Only to repeat the process about ten times over the next 10 minutes.

This shark illustration is kind of a gruesome, yet riveting. A shark attacking a surfer. It's got all the action and plotline of a movie preview, really.

The surfer's leg from knee down is in the sharks mouth. The surfer's face is white as a sheet with a look of terror on it, and there is all this action of a lifeguard calling for help, and some of the surfer's buddies standing in the water bodily holding the rest of the shark up out of the water to ensure it doesn't try swimming away with their friend.

He asks me every time he brings to the book to me, "What that, mama?" What's a mom supposed to say, time after time after time?

I'm all, "The man's leg is in the sharks mouth." He studies it for a time, then puts it down and comes back in a few minutes for more. He just can't help himself.

After about the tenth time of his asking, I finally say in a frantic and scared voice, complete with accompanying gestures, "That shark got him, Judah! He grabbed his leg! He was gonna pull him under the water and eat him alive, but his buddies rescued him in the nick of time! He was lucky to get out alive!"

He looks up at me all nonplussed like he knows exactly what I'm saying. And the crazy thing is, I'm pretty sure he does!

All those, "What's that, mama?" questions I answer all day long are really sinking in. He's picking up on everything right now, and inserting it into his vocabulary left and right at the appropriate times. I can't even keep up with writing all his new words on the calendar anymore.

The questions get old, but it is how they learn the names of things.

Like today when I was dressing him, and I said, "Here, let's put your pants on."

"No, mama...thortz." (shorts)

"No, these are pants."

"No. Thortz."

Yep, at two he's already talking back. I'm so in for it.

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Jericho tried out a new hairstyle this morning. When it was wet, it looked decent enough, so I took him off to school with the old, "Well, if that's the look you're going for..."

When he got in the car after school, we pulled out of the school parking lot, and when I turned to look at him mid-sentence, I burst out laughing. "You look just like Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber!"

I know, probably not the kindest words from a moms mouth. But you have to understand my son. He took this as a tremendous compliment, that being one of his favorite movies. He pulled the mirror over to see for himself, and after a huge grin, started in with Jim Carrey-isms. Like this one. Goofball.



He captured it pretty well, don't you think?

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Oh, and Jeff got "Teacher of the Month" at his school...which puts him in the running for Teacher of the Year! I'm so proud of him. He didn't want me to mention it to anyone, modest man that he is, but I couldn't let that one slip past without bragging on him just a bit. It's only the beginning of his 2nd year at this school, and there are 50+ teachers there!

You da man, Jeff!