Article Contributed on: 7/18/2007 11:50:00 PM
As anyone might imagine, the amount of dialog in this house has increased greatly over the past year. No surprise at all, given the addition of two young boys just breaking into the language and a 5-year-old girl who already imagines herself a master of it.
But as words are learned they are used. With
"M" it's mostly a battle of case - eat vs ate, fall vs fell and the like.
D-Man is forever trying to invent scenarios that would allow him to deploy his newly expanded vocabulary.
As for
Binky, it's mostly just an effort to expel as many "no's" as he can in a day - whether that's his true meaning or not. Ask if he wants more water? "no," as he hands you the cup. A cracker? "no" - except he won't leave the shadow of that cabinet without one. Can I get a kiss?
Well, he always manages to squeeze in a "no." Usually just as he's exercising his newfound pucker and leaning into us...
The result is that I frequently overhear the following types of conversations:
D-Man: "Bird!"
Binky: "no."
D-Man: "Ball!"
Binky: "no."
D-Man: "A proven, reliable method of cross-pollination that's guaranteed to increase harvest yields while providing improved protection against insect threat!"
Binky: "no."
Every now and then they rely on their sister for a judgment. But for now, Binky has the final word...
Chris Stone is a slightly different - hopefully better - Father and man than he was yesterday...