Phragments from Phyllis for Nov. 20, 2008

Repetition -- that's how we learn much of what we know. We repeat actions and words over and over again and thus commit them to memory. (Therefore, the old adage that you must use a new vocabulary word three times and then it's truly yours.)

The problem is when you're my age, you've repeated many, many things over and over again and you are a quick study about most. On the other hand, for a 14-month-old everything is new and he must repeat things over and over and over and over .... Well, you get my drift.

Cade is now reminding me of Liz when she was little. He has one DVD with kid songs on it and when he's home and awake, he would gladly listen to this DVD all day long. (When we first got a VCR, Liz was given control of the device by her brother and sister and would play our only tape, "Pinocchio," over and over again, if allowed to do so. I could quote chapter and verse of the movie.) Cade now gets up in the morning pressing his little fingers together and saying, "DeDe-DeDe-DeDe" -- That would be "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in translation. His one DVD has that song on it and his YaYa, of course, has tried to teach him the motions to go with the song. So now, anytime he wants to hear the tape, he does the same gesture knowing that we'll understand. If for some reason he hasn't thought of it first thing, he often comes into my closet while I'm dressing. There Tom has a Thanksgiving tie, which is currently front and center. Cade looks at the tie and says, "Do-Be-Do-Be-Do-Be." That's "gobble, gobble, gobble," to you. Another song on the same DVD is "Old MacDonald" and one of the verses has a turkey with a "gobble-gobble here and a gobble-gobble there ..." So once he's locked in on the tie, we must sing that song numerous times. After almost two months of playing this DVD at least once a day, Cade is finally interested enough in one of the songs to do the gestures that I associate with it. "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" was one of Cat and Liz's favorites and I even have a picture of the two of them "bonking" their heads with the music and then wagging a figure with the line "No more monkeys jumping on the bed" as they sang. Cade now likewise has learned to hit the side of his head with his hand when we sing "One fell off and bonked his head ..." and just this morning he has begun to point his little finger in reprimand to the monkeys.

There are a few new songs on the DVD -- "Tempo the Tiger" (to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In"), "The Frankie Prance" (Cade says "Kan-Kee) and my personal favorite, "Apples and Bananas." This song teaches the vowel sounds by interjecting them into words that don't make those sounds. It begins with "I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas," but it quickly goes into the entire vowel group with "I like to ate, ate, ate aaples and banaanaas ... eat, eat, eat eeples and baneenees ... ite, ite, ite iiples and baniiniis ... etc. And we sing it five times or more a day.

I am thrilled that he is learning new things every day. I am happy that he loves the DVD his uncle gave him for his birthday. And I'm guessing he's ready for Dr. Seuss -- whose books drove me crazy when my kids were little. I do not like Dr. Seuss. ... I do not like him in a box... I do not like him with a fox ... I do not like him anywhere ...

But I am resigned and will happily repeat him over and over for that precious child. And maybe the second time around ".... I will read him in a box. And I will read him with a fox. And I will read him in a house. And I will read him with a mouse. And I will read him here and there. Say! I will read him ANYWHERE! -- and love it.