I know I have heard and probably said many times that kids help to teach you patience.  Right now that is clearly evident in the broken record stage that Will is in.  Since he doesn’t really have that many words that he will say, he will sometimes repeat the same word or sound over and over and over and over . . . . to get his point across.  He hasn’t yet figured out that it doesn’t work very well.

From the first moment I am up until I give him his breakfast he will constantly repeat the word “um?”  Which means “I am hungry, please feed me” for those of you who don’t speak Williamese.  If he wants something he doesn’t have a word for he will repeat “this” or “that” with general pointing hoping we will figure it out.  If he wants juice and we have told him no he can only have water, he will continue to repeat the word “juice” hoping we will change our mind by the sheer annoyance of his persistence.

Here’s an example from today.  I was trying to get him to lie down on the couch with me because he’d woken up from nap before everyone else was ready to get up.  He wiggled around trying to find a comfortable spot and finally ended up next to my legs.  His finger touched my leg and he said “oh?” with just the right inflection for me to realize he meant “owie.”

“Do I have an owie?” I asked.

“oh” he repeated.

“Yes, Will” I said, not understanding what response he was looking for.

“oh”

“Uh, huh”

“oh”

“Yes”

“oh”

“It’s OK Will, it doesn’t hurt”

“oh”

As I could no longer think of any response that would satisfy him, I finally just gave up and ignored the repeated word.  He kept at it for a bit, and then also became quiet.  After a few moments I felt slightly wet lips touch my leg as he planted a big kiss on the offending spot, and that settled the matter.

Later Seth woke from his nap and the two of them enjoyed some boy time while Elise still slept.  Here’s a picture of my two boys playing so nicely together.