A’dee means I love you

My youngest son is 20 months. His vocabulary is still rather limited and “a’dee” is his most often used word. It translates into:

“What is that?”
“Who is that?”
“Look, kitty!”
“Give me some of that!”
“Drink” (= I am thirsty)
“Oh Mummy, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes – you look simply ravishing!!”

Actually, the kid is pretty frustrated, because he understands so much of what we’re saying, and can’t reply. This frustration leads him to uttering his 2nd most used sound, after “a’dee”. I am not quite sure how it is spelled, but something like: “Aaaaiiiiigggghhhhh!!!” Or is it more: “Iiiiiiiiihhhhhhhrrr”?

Him being very frustrated leads me to being very frustrated because he is – age-appropriately – suffering from separation anxiety. The psychological ramifications of this is that he sits on me like a fly on shit. He has now realized that sometimes I leave, that we are not one flesh. This discovery leaves him – well, this is my experience at least – to hate me a little bit. Mixed in with huge love, naturally. So he resents me for not being there ALL the time, which leads to new exiting patterns in his behavior. He used to fall a sleep with out much ado, but now, he would REALLY prefer, if I would just sit there and look at him (admiringly, I imagine??) while he doses off. He can get rather upset with me leaving, leading to more “Iiihhhhhrraaaaaaahhhhhh”.

And while it is quite annoying with all that attention, I have to admit, it is also flattering. I mean, the guy looks at me ALL the time. Watches my every move. His world revolves around me. He thinks I am the greatest. He thinks I am the most beautiful. I am literally the wisest person he knows. And I am the most important person in the world to him.

Now, all this will change soon enough. In about 10 minutes, he will cringe with embarrassment just by me saying “hi”. The sheer sound of my breathing will leave him blushing with embarrassment; he will be mortified with the way I chew my food and ready to jump a bridge by the time I am done saying: “Pheeew, did I do that?”

And I’ll remember when he thought I was the coolest person alive. And I will believe in us, getting past our present stage of awkwardness. Mischievous as I am, I will probably drive him and his buddies to practice and we’ll pass a group of girls and I’ll honk the horn and look back at the guys and say: “Whoa, did you see the rack on HER?”.

His buddies will feel sorry for him but still see the funniness of it. At least I’m not their moms! If I can just win over his buddies, I’ll have him too.

HE – had me at a’dee.