For all the love David may have for Julia, he refuses to call his sister by her proper name. Even under threat of intense tickling, he flat out refuses to call her "Julia." Instead, he'll only call her "Baby."
I would rather he calls her by her proper name than an impersonal classification. After all, Nataliya and I argued considered many names before agreeing on "Julia."
To an outsider, it may seem that he doesn't understand what is being asked of him, but a recent interaction proved otherwise. Julia and David were having fun in the bathtub, playing with their bath letters and numbers when I started up with David:
David: Wee.
Daddy: No - "Li"
David: Wre.
Daddy: Close enough. Say "ya"
David: Yaa
Daddy: Good! Now say "ju"
David: Yuu
Daddy: Great! Good job!
Okay... so I've established that he could approximately say "Julia" if he wanted to. I just needed for him to paste the three syllables together.
David: Reya
Daddy: Now say "Juli"
David: Yuree.
Daddy: Say "Ju. Li. Ya."
David opened his mouth as if to say something and then paused. After a few seconds, a smile appeared on his face. He looked up at me and took in a deep breath in preparation for his reply.
Damn! I thought I had him!
David: Baby!
I even tried breaking it down for him.
David: Bay! Bay! Bee!
Daddy: Say "Li"
David: Baby!
Daddy: Say "Li"
David: Baby, baby, baby, baby, BABY!
It was hopeless. It's unclear what he thinks he's achieving by not saying Julia's name, but his resolve is admirable, if not frustrating. Let's hope he can put that same determination into his schoolwork and career.
1 comment:
this totally craked me up. David is one determined little guy. Such is toddlerhood, I guess.
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