And the Words Started Coming

Vacation, as I mentioned yesterday, was extremely relaxing and as all vacations go after getting back to work, it started fading all to soon as reality came flooding back.  While the relaxation of vacation started fading, the memories do not, and one of the memories that will stay with me for a long time is the memory of something clicking in my son's brain.  Last week we saw a dramatic increase in our son's vocabulary.  Whether it was the salty air from the ocean, or the sand on the beach, our son began adding words (not entirely whole or perfectly understandable) to his vocabulary as if speaking was going out of style and he didn't want to miss his chance to take part in it.  The following are just a few of the words that he added during the week; beach, sea gull, sea shell, walk, and rock.  There were many others that he attempted and just couldn't get quite right.  Regardless, the fact that he is attempting words and trying to emulate the English language is fantastic.  The increase in vocabulary, or at least his attempt at different words, didn't stop when we got home.  The day after returning, we had to go food shopping as there was nothing in the house to feed our family.  While at the store, there were a few times when I put some items in our carriage and asked our son to repeat the name of the item.  The two that I tried at the store were peanut and cashew.  He still can't quite articulate every consonant and vowel, but with the ones that he has, he attempted the words and came pretty close to the point where we could definitely tell that he was saying peanut and cashew.  Its amazing to see and we both have a feeling that it probably won't be too long now before he starts full sentences.  OK, so maybe full sentences are a little ways off, but in addition to trying new words, he is starting to put a couple of words together at a time to get his message across.  One time as we were sitting around the table either eating lunch or dinner during vacation, we were going around the table asking him who the different members of our family were.  He got my brother's name down as well as his girlfriend's name, as well grandpa (which we think is now popop).  At one point we asked him if his grandpa was his daddy and he said, "Dadda, no".  I know its simple, but the fact that he got the point across that his grandpa was not his daddy was pretty cool to see. 

 

There was another little interesting thing our son did during vacation.  While my brother's girlfriend came out with us, she couldn't stay the whole week as her family had a trip planned.  The day after she left, our son kept on saying her name and looking for her over and over again.  Whether it was the fact that he actually knew her name or just the fact that she noticed she was missing, it was precious to see him walk around and say her name almost in question form as if to say, "Where is she?"  That alone should have given us a clue that the transition back to home life would not be as easy as the transition to vacation was.  Normally, our son will see his grandparents or uncle for maybe half a day at a time and be perfectly fine with leaving them and coming back home.  After spending a week with his grandparents and uncle, seeing them every day from morning to night, the transition home was not that easy.  Saturday our son was simply in a daze upon our return, tired and a little ornery.  Sunday, he was a complete mess.  He refused to eat his normal food or even eat as much as he normally does.  He would throw tantrums at the drop of a hat, sometimes the closing of a door being all he needed to start screaming and crying.  Yesterday he was a little better, but I can imagine it wasn't easy for him to go from being with his extended family to only his nuclear family in a matter of a day.  We did start telling him before we left that vacation was coming to an end and that he wouldn't be seeing grandma and grandpa anymore, but sometimes I guess, that just isn't enough.  I am sure that today will be a much better day and the he won't be freaking out quite as much.  I guess we will see as the day progresses.  Its tough being a toddler and not understanding the comings and goings of life, the fluctuations between vacation and normal life, and how everything unfolds and plays out over time.  As much as we can try to explain all this to him, he can only grasp so much at the ripe old age of 22 months.  Oh well. 

 

One of the good things we did find out is that our son does well on road trips.  We knew he did pretty well on a 3-3.5 hour ride up to Vermont, however, the trip out to Cape Cod was a bit longer with more traffic and sitting around just waiting for cars to move.  Each way, I would have to say that we averaged around 4.5 hours of sitting in the car including one stop each way to use the bathroom and for me to grab a coffee.  With all of that sitting in a car, our son barely got cranky.  There were a few times where he started whining a little, but we explained that there was nothing we could do and that we would be there within "x" amount of time.  This worked pretty well most of the time.  I think our son just enjoyed looking out the window, napping, and sucking on his thumb.  At least we are working up in time to longer road trips.  I don't know when we will be taking a long road trip anytime soon, but when we do, I am sure that he will be prepared for it and will travel well just like my wife and I did when we were little.  One thing is for certain, I am never buying a car, minivan, or SUV with those TV screens in the back of the seats for our son to stare at for however long.  If he can be perfectly content with just staring out a window right now, then he will be perfectly fine with books and music when he gets older.  In my mind, TVs placed in the back of seats are merely a way for parents to limit the amount of interaction or actual entertaining they have to do with their children.  I agree that it is much easier to just plop them down in front of a TV and let that entertain them, however, I would much rather have that time to talk to them, find out what they are interested in, answer questions, and carry on what most people have forgotten how to do, a conversation.  In any case, there is more from our vacation that I will share in the coming days, it will just be in bits and pieces as I see fit.  For now, I can't wait to see what new words our son tries today.  Should be interesting, that's for sure!