Peter, when you were a toddler you...

In these waning days of Peter-the-Only-Child, I feel I must record some Peter quirks that may go away as he gets older and more big brotherly.

 

1. "Wissin" or "wissun." This is Peter's all-purpose interrogative pronoun. It can be used for "what," "where," "who" and "why." For example, "wissin Gammie house?" should mean "where is Grammie's house." "Wissin dat?" should be "what's that?"

 

Note that I say "should be." It's a very flexible word, and Peter changes its meaning on a whim, which leads to another Peterism.

 

2. "[X]." "[X]?" "... No. [Y]."  This is a new one in his arsenal. It basically goes like this: Peter makes a statement, X. The statement is then repeated to Peter as a question, so as to confirm his meaning. Peter then pauses and denies that was his statement, with a tone of voice implying the other person really needs to pay attention better, then makes a new statement completely unrelated to the first.

 

3. His right hand. Peter likes to gesticulate with his right hand, specifically in regards to going “dis way.” Example: I tell him we’re going to the car to go somewhere, and he decides he’ll direct us towards the car by saying “dis way” while extending his hand out as if to shake hands. The hand is out firm and straight, and he lightly jabs the air when saying “dis [jab] way.” It’s an endearing little move, and will serve him well as a football referee signaling a first down.

 

4. “Mommy Daddy Baby Peter” or “Mommy Daddy Peter Baby.” Originally this was a specific reference to his family, like “Mommy Daddy Baby Peter go water park?” Simple enough. But as he got to be more of a motor-mouth, he’d start monologues that flow without much (obvious) purpose for many minutes at a time, and then he’d say “Mommy Daddy Baby Peter” at the end as if to signify the soliloquy was at an end. At least that’s how it seems to me. He can go from internal dialogue while playing to full-blown conversation without skipping a beat (or taking a breath).

 

5. I don’t remember if I ever put this up before, but a couple months ago we were reading one of Peter’s books with him and it had a bunch of big letter on the page. We’d ask him to point to specific letters and then go over some words that start with that letter. We were pretty pleased when he was able to identify Q. I asked him if he knew any words that started with Q. Without missing a beat he said “cucumber.”

 

6. His little chairs. He has two small, wood chairs that he doesn’t really use for sitting. Instead, he drags them around the kitchen floor so he can stand on them when at the kitchen counter. It’s actually pretty annoying, because he’ll drag them noisily across the tile, and then leave them blocking the path to wherever I’m going. But I know when he’s big enough to not need them anymore I’ll get weepy. Until that time I’ll just make empty threats to throw them out unless he lifts them properly off the floor and doesn’t leave them in anyone’s way.

 

7. Peter Songs. Peter is picky about what is played on the car radio. He prefers his music (he has a couple of nursery rhyme CDs) which he calls “Peter Songs.” They, of course, drive his parents a little batty after 30-40 times playing them. So we try to sneak in something we would prefer. Peter, though, is no dope, and he knows that what is being played is not “Peter Songs.” We’d tell him it is, but he knows the difference, and has told us that we are playing “Mommy Daddy Songs.” We once asked him if he liked what we were playing, and he said “No. I turn it off.”