Anyone who knows Cole knows that he is a thumb sucker. Although it has its advantages, anyone who knows me knows that I was against it (as a long time thumb sucker, I know what a hard habit it is to break.) I am not ashamed to admit that I have thought about that horrible tasting stuff to paint on his thumb -- I know, he’s only 20 months old -- can never start too early, right?
So, an interesting thing happened. A few weeks ago Cole contracted the infamous “Hand, Foot & Mouth” virus. He developed blisters on his hands…, well you get it… The worst were the ones on his thumb -- because he had it in his mouth. So for two nights I put a band-aid on his thumb in order to deter him from sucking and making things worse. Deter…it did. He has not sucked his thumb since. And in my craziness I even specifically look for it at night to make sure he is not “closet sucking” when I give him a kiss before I go to bed. Either he is no longer sucking his thumb or he is really sneaky. Not sure what this says about my kid. On the one hand, does it suggest that he has such a bad memory that two nights is all it takes to forget a well-loved and established habit? Or on the other hand maybe he has such a good memory that he just can’t get that “bad band-aid taste” out of his mind. Either way, GREAT outcome.
Additionally, a report on Cole’s verbal skills. Although he can communicate his needs somewhat well in English, he is picking up the critical 20 month old “Survival French.” A bit of an explanation of the words he knows:
“Dou dou” – Lance and I were a bit alarmed by this one at first for obvious reasons. But in France a “dou dou” is any type of item that a child uses to comfort themselves (i.e. a teddy bear, a blanket, a pacifier, etc.) So for my kids it is Eileen Hersh’s “taggie.” Cole asks for his “dou dou” at naptime and bedtime… or anytime he sees his or Ellie’s.
“Bon bon” – you know what it means: “kicking back and eating bon bons all day.” It’s candy. And here they give kids a lot of it -- there is a bon bon factory in town for heavens sake. He learned that one pretty quickly, as did his sister.
“Coo coo” – this is a phrase that most adults use when trying to get the attention of kids. It is basically a combination of our “Yoo hoo” and “Peek-a-boo” but used more frequently. People say it to him all the time, in the grocery store, at the market, at school… For Christmas he got a mechanical rabbit that wheels around the stone floors repeating “Coo coo” incessantly. He loves it. He now just thinks it is the funniest thing to say and uses it appropriately to get people’s attention.
“Ca Ca” – so this one is tough. In France they say use the word “ca ca” to mean, well, just that. He is now trying to use that when contextually appropriate. HOWEVER, apparently “chocolat” (pronounced "showcolah") is too much of a mouthful for Cole so he has abbreviated that word down to “co co” but this sounds alarmingly like “ca ca.” So it is impossible to ascertain when he says “ca ca” if he wants chocolate or if he has to go to the bathroom (or, more commonly, already has gone to the bathroom).
One final note -- the 400 year old stone stairs that he could barley crawl up when we got here, AND are a serious safety hazard as they have very inadequate iron railings... he can now walk up on his own. I guess this is just his way of showing me he is growing up.
Additionally, a report on Cole’s verbal skills. Although he can communicate his needs somewhat well in English, he is picking up the critical 20 month old “Survival French.” A bit of an explanation of the words he knows:
“Dou dou” – Lance and I were a bit alarmed by this one at first for obvious reasons. But in France a “dou dou” is any type of item that a child uses to comfort themselves (i.e. a teddy bear, a blanket, a pacifier, etc.) So for my kids it is Eileen Hersh’s “taggie.” Cole asks for his “dou dou” at naptime and bedtime… or anytime he sees his or Ellie’s.
“Bon bon” – you know what it means: “kicking back and eating bon bons all day.” It’s candy. And here they give kids a lot of it -- there is a bon bon factory in town for heavens sake. He learned that one pretty quickly, as did his sister.
“Coo coo” – this is a phrase that most adults use when trying to get the attention of kids. It is basically a combination of our “Yoo hoo” and “Peek-a-boo” but used more frequently. People say it to him all the time, in the grocery store, at the market, at school… For Christmas he got a mechanical rabbit that wheels around the stone floors repeating “Coo coo” incessantly. He loves it. He now just thinks it is the funniest thing to say and uses it appropriately to get people’s attention.
“Ca Ca” – so this one is tough. In France they say use the word “ca ca” to mean, well, just that. He is now trying to use that when contextually appropriate. HOWEVER, apparently “chocolat” (pronounced "showcolah") is too much of a mouthful for Cole so he has abbreviated that word down to “co co” but this sounds alarmingly like “ca ca.” So it is impossible to ascertain when he says “ca ca” if he wants chocolate or if he has to go to the bathroom (or, more commonly, already has gone to the bathroom).
One final note -- the 400 year old stone stairs that he could barley crawl up when we got here, AND are a serious safety hazard as they have very inadequate iron railings... he can now walk up on his own. I guess this is just his way of showing me he is growing up.
1 comment:
Peter's gonna send you guys some pacie's to replace that thumb, don't you worry!!!!
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