My daughter is teaching me how to speak, and by extension, how to see and to feel (abilities I have all but lost).
"Bew-fuls, bew-fuls," she says, while looking at the shells we collected at the beach in NC last week. Does she really say beautiful, now? I can't even believe this. "Water comin," she says, when the ocean is roaring toward us, and there is no way to convey how absolutely perfect that word "comin" sounds when she says it. It is the sweetest thing. "Rainbow fall down" she says while reading and re-reading the Noah story, with which she has become sincerely fascinated. For that matter, "Animals comin" and "Fire comin" also feature prominently in the Noah readings.
Which brings me to the "deep fire," or dehumidifier, which was required when I flooded the bathroom at the beach house (oh no, no, no, but all too true). "Petties, petties (pretties)," she says of the small stones we collected on Martha's Vineyard earlier this summer.
"Rainin, poh-in" she sings, then, "ah, moh-nin, ah, moh-nin." Sean and I can't figure out if this is some song abut Morning that we don't know where she learned, or if she's simply singing in her own language, as sometimes when we say "I love you," and she responds, "Ah Mohnin," and then starts singing this poetic phrase over and over. It's what she sings when feeling happy or comforted, and more than anything, it comforts us. It tells us that it's all going to be alright--really Mommy, really Daddy, really it is.
5 comments:
No, no no no no too beautiful (bew-ful) too amazing too wonderful. I almost can't stand it..what she says, what she understands (I know, can hear in my head, how perfect "waves comin"-- as I read through, kept saying everything aloud to myself in her voice), what she teaches. That comforting phrase of hers, and collecting the shells, scattering them out, picking through.
Seems we're forever scattering the words out, and picking through. I can't imagine doing any of it without you. Waves comin, now. Here comes the next . . .
Ah - these moments are to be treasured. I can remember when my little guy (not so little now) was learning how to pronunciate words - fire truck came out like "fire ruck" and butterfly was "butterly". Love it!
Hahha Kristin! M's word for truck is well, um, simply the fire ruck w/o the middle part, if you know what I mean. Did we tell you? It's too hilarious. What are we to do when she repeats it over and over? We usually just say back to her, "tr-uck, tr-uck" and then she repeats it, her way, over and over again. Relishing that f sound...oh my! For that matter, train is "choo-choo frain" and airplane is "airflane" but of course the truck takes the cake.
love.
Post a Comment