And were the terrible twos spectacular or what? Perhaps a little more intense than his older brother's. But what a child. A wicked laugh, a true goer, someone who finds his toddlerhood a little limiting – he wants to play like his brother.
What I find most surprising is how two children from the same parents can be so diametrically different. James is less compliant than his brother and twenty times more headstrong (when he is right, he is RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!). This is the year where his personality has really come to the fore. It's built around his home environment, his first year at play school (which he settled into very quicky) and general interaction with those that love him. His language has developed at a furious rate – I was away for four days last week and when I came back he was speaking less in a baby voice and using complicated sentences. And it's this language that becomes an endearing part of James. His interpretation of words generates humorous terms that don't last long. I thought it was best to capture some of this on the blog so that I don't forget it (I started writing this six months' ago). I was taking him back home from school and we were talking about the days of the week. The interaction went along these lines
James – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday…
Dad – Wednesday comes after Tuesday JimJam. What comes after Thursday
James – lunchtime
Here is glossary of some of the words that we heard over the last year, sadly most have disappeared and have been substituted with the correct words (if they could ever be correct)
Buckaflow – buffalo (or Gruffalo)
Buckerfly – butterfly
Rhinoris – I think this is clear
Clackadow or clockadow (hard to hear) – crocodile
Tinkerbell – jingle bells
Hail, heyl, hale – the stuff that horses eat
Storn – when the rain comes down and lightening (or struckening as his older brother used to call it) strikes
Burny – chewing gum. I think this has something to do with me slathering a piece of chewing gum with Tabasco hoping he woudn't chew it. He chewed it anyway. We now have a three year old addicted to chewing gum, I mean burny.
Pilgit – this was a once off
Sharing's caring – a term used when he wants to play with something that is dear to his brother who is refusing to hand it over (dankie tog that Barney has disappeared from our TV)
And the best of the lot is "Farmer Christmas"
With language comes expression, with expression comes volume, with volume comes protest. The naughty corner is certainly not going to gather cobwebs in a hurry.
Our house is now a busy house, so many personalities and so much activity. Next year is nursery school and more adventures. You are still the delight that you always were JimJam, from the minute I set my eyes on you I knew you would add a dimension to my life that I would always cherish. Your family adores you, and do so more each day.
Where would we be without music, actually that should be, where would I be without music. James Phillips is James' designated musician. This track was co-written with Carl Raubenheimer and has a certain looseness to it, at times Carl and James sing different words, but then so did John and Paul on Please, Please Me
Jimmy McCulloch first gained fame with Thunderclap Newman, however most people know him as the SG wielding guitarist for McCartney (himself a James) in the 1970s. This song has been buzzing around my head for a while.
05 – Paul McCartney & Wings – Wino Junko