Baby, befuddled

If you’ve seen the Sandra Boynton Book A to Z, it’s simply a list of characters and an alliterative verb. Aardvark admiring (with a picture of an aardvark looking at himself in the mirror.)  Turkey tripping is a perennial favorite (although the baby fails to see the humor in himself tripping.)

For purposes of this weblog, call the baby Declan. And lately, we’ve been alliterating him.

The baby suddenly smells bad? Declan — diaper.

The baby sees you approaching with the diaper and takes off?  Declan — departing.

The baby is at the beach? Declan — digging. Followed by, Declan — dirty.  Still later when he overcomes his fear of the water and wants to walk all the way across the lake? Declan — deep.

It’s all fun and games until you start getting to situations that don’t have a readily apparent D-word at hand. At which point we get creative.

Baby takes off his shoes? Declan — discalced.

Baby falls asleep?  Declan — diurnal.

I have no idea whether the baby follows any of this. He barely speaks at all (although yesterday he marched over to the fridge, pointed at it, and snapped, “LUNCH!” Declan — demanding.)  But I do know Kiddo#1 flummoxed his preschool teachers once with a similar exchange.

Teacher: Today in class we’re going to make a banana boat!
Kiddo#1: That’s alliteration.
Teacher: Uh…yeah, you’re right.
Assistant teacher: WTH?
Teacher: Try to remember your college English classes.

It comes from having a 2.5 year old who teaches himself to read and wants to know why all stores have two names, both of which begin with the same letter. (Dunkin Donuts, Best Buy, Circuit City…)

For now, the baby simply enjoys hearing his name and likes the big smiles and the applause when he does something. And we get to be silly with each other, which is also the point. Family — fun!