Yesterday Jonah was content to play by himself for a while. This usually involves dragging several large playthings and objects over to wherever he’s set up camp, creating what we like to call “the village”. This time, among other things, he’d blockaded himself in by a large play table with a keyboard, desktop, and several small buttons and games. It required batteries and he understood the batteries were dead, so he came to me and said “battery?” After I replaced the batteries, the toy table happily chattered away about numbers and colors. Jonah settled in behind the table on a large cushion-y chair with his current favorite pack of flashcards.
He loves cards. Any kind. Playing cars, word cards, colors, puzzle pictures, trigonometry equations – you name it. He flips through them, carries them around, clings to them like little miniature security blankets.
When he plays by himself, he is both student and teacher. “What color is this card?” he asks.
“S’blue!” is his immediate answer. “That’s right!” he replies brightly.
“What color is my shirt?” he tries again, perhaps thinking a more challenging question is in order.
“S’red!” he confidently replies. “Yup!” he declares, proudly nodding at having such a bright student.
After a while it is time for his bath. When I tell him 5 minutes to bath time, he begs “more this!?” “More this!?”
“5 minutes more,” I answer. Alas, he can’t have the flash cards in the water because they’ll get wet. And strangely, this kid who understands when his toy needs batteries is unable to comprehend the destructive nature of water when it comes to paper products. So I compensate with green bucket, a beach sand-castle bucket we’ve filled with random cups, plastic bath toys, and empty soft-soap containers. If I leave him alone in the bathtub, he’ll quickly grab the liquid soap container from the sink and dumb its entire contents in the tub, creating a village of bubbles in which to bask and bathe. The people at the grocery store must think I am an obsessive-compulsive hand-washer for all the soap refill containers I purchase.
joyful bathtime jonah, circa 2008
It is early morning now and as I type this, I hear Jonah stirring. He is giggling, amused by something he has perhaps dreamed or just realized. The kid is cracking himself up in there.
What a beautiful thing, to awaken so happy you’re out of control laughing.
Laugh away, kid. Mama loves you.
The Never Normal 