I bought Ben a Pacific Northwest Alphabet book when we were in Seattle: “O Is For Orca”. Sure enough, now, when I ask him, “what does the letter O stand for, Ben?” he says, “Awr-ka!” I’d bet I have the only 17 month old in L.A. who knows what an orca is. I’m so proud.
Ben actually knows a lot of words now, and what he doesn’t know the words for, he makes the noise for. Our last trip through Whole Foods sounded like this:
BEN: Moooo!
ME: Yes, that is a cow on that milk carton!
BEN: Riwey!
ME: Yes, that doggie on the dog food does look like Riley!
BEN: Elmo!
ME: Yes, that is Elmo on those cookies.
I’m very proud of Ben. He recognizes a lot of animals and objects (book, car, hat, Grover) and makes noises for animals he can’t pronounce (“ba-a-a-a-a-aaaa! mooooo! neighhhhh! buk buk buk!”) He can recognize and say “orca” and “owl”. And he can even tell us the names of some of his books: “beach” for Bats at the Beach, “Bah-bah” for “Babar”, “Nonny” for Noddy and “Wilethink” for “Where The Wild Things Are”. He learns more and gets smarter all the time, and it’s a miracle watching it happen.
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