The Voice of Pi

My boy is finding his voice, and I am enthralled by the sound.

Whenever we go to the park, surrounding ourselves with state-of-the-art equipment that stimulates both the brain and body, my boy eschews all in favor of hunting and gathering sticks. The best toys for Pi are those found in nature...and Hokey-Pokey Elmo, of course.

Yesterday we had a semi-successful stick-gathering session, but we always say "bye-bye sticks" before getting back in the car or the stroller. While we were walking back to the car, Pi said something that sounded like "stick", and obliged again and again when I asked him to repeat it. Later on at dinner, when I warned him of the high temperature of the sticky rice he wanted, he performed his Buster Poindexter impression, sayin' "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

He does say "Mama" and "Dada" when prompted, but asks specifically for "Bub" - his Bob the Builder toolbox with screwdriver, wrench, hammer and saw board books that Mama and Dada read in sequence eighty-six bazillion times a day. I swear I've awoken in the midst of reciting "Today is a busy day for Bob! What will he need to do the job?"

Along with the physical formation of words, I see so much going on behind his eyes now. He was so happy to get such a response from me when he said "Stick", and he has such an opinion and will about the way his world should be organized. I have to go away for work tomorrow for five days, and I would rather sharpen Pi's playground scavengings and plunge them into my ocular cavities than miss anything that happens during such a crucial time in his development. Thank Whatever that Smitty is so quick and adept with our digital camera and computer.