Monday, September 1, 2014

Hi, Will!

  
I may have mentioned this briefly at some point, but would be remiss in failing to elaborate on what is probably the most descriptive aspect of Will's social little personality.

William talks to people ALL DAY LONG.

To whom does he talk, you ask? Aren't you the only adult in the house usually? Yup. Does he let that stop him? Well, why should it, when he can talk to Mater, Bob the Builder, Elmo, and about a hundred other beloved book characters, friends, inanimate objects, and even body parts... all day long?

I'm sure I'm partly to blame for this. I've always made his stuffed animals and even book illustrations talk to him. He's grown up knowing that everything speaks to him. Why wouldn't it?

So now, a dozen times a day, I hear:

William: "Hi Bob Builder!" (Or fill in the blank with pretty much anything or anyone else you can think of.)
William/Bob: (in a lower voice) "Hi, Will!"
William: "Bob, I'm drivin' big truck!"
William/Bob: "You DID?"
William: "Yep!"
[PAUSE] This means it's my turn to come in as Bob (or whatever/whomever he's talking to at the moment). Because I hate to burst his bubble, I always oblige.

All day long. To books. To cars on the road. To items and pictures in the grocery store. To real-life people he's encountered at some point, who all mysteriously now live in the ceiling.

William: [to his Cars toothbrush - one of his best friends] "HI, Mater! 'Hi, Will!'"
William: "Hey Big Road Train! 'Hey Will!'"
William: "Bye, Bo! 'Bye Will!'"
William: "Bye, Daddy!" [daddy is distracted - no problem for Will - he'll take care of that] "Bye, Will!"
William: "Hi, grandpa-van! Hi, Caddy! 'Hi, Will!'"

Sometimes this is particularly hilarious.
Mama: [once, during a diaper change] "Look at that little butt-ski!"
William: [face lights up - something new to talk to!] "Hi, Butt! 'Hey, Will!'"
William: "Butt, Mama do change my diaper!"
[PAUSE]
William: "Butt, I try fart!"
Mama: [baffled. I must now be the voice for William's Butt] [awkwardly] "Cool, William! I guess I'll help you with that."

Yesterday he found an illustration in a kid's magazine of a boy in a hardhat and toolbelt. I told Will that the boy looked like Bob the Builder (who, incidentally, appeared in a library video Will's seen pretty much only three times in his life but has since been an intimate friend of Will's). From that moment on, the boy WAS Bob the Builder. William brought the magazine all over the house with him, talking to Bob and showing him all his toys. This was heartwarming and heartbreaking. Thank GOD he's got a sibling who will one day - Lord willing - talk back to William.

If Barrett can get a word in edgewise, that is.

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