Driving edamommy up the wall
Sunday, September 30, 2007Animals of all kinds are able to identify their offspring by the unique sound of their call. For whales this sound is a haunting bellow, for birds a beautiful song, and for dolphins a cheerful chirp. Other animals are not so lucky - next time you are compiling your sympathy list you might consider including that poor hyena mother, or the mom to a baby howler monkey. And somewhere along that scale, of course, fall human mothers. We hear it all: tears, screaming, laughing, babbling, and, we can't forget, whining. Who can forget the whining? At this point in time we are convinced that the whine is the single most identifiable sound in Calvin's vocal range - we can pick it out of a busy room anywhere, and it often sends us heading in the opposite direction if possible. Unfortunately the whine is also the most frequently heard sound, and it has a long list of uses to which Calvin is forever adding. Over the past few weeks Calvin has begun to take an interest in "driving" things around the house, such as toy cars, elephants on wheels, and even blocks without wheels - he will drive anything that will push easily, and of course he accompanies this new driving skill with motor noises that sound suspiciously similar to his ear-piercing whine. We try to remind ourselves that this is creativity at its earliest and best, but that's hard to keep in mind as we sit through lunch watching and listening to Calvin driving his edamame across his highchair tray, wondering if we wouldn't prefer that baby howler monkey after all.
Reader Comments (2)
Cut to picture of Becky laughing hysterically into the open freezer case while other shoppers got concerned looks on their faces, shot sympathetic looks to Liesl in her cart, and hurried to get away from us....