the mind of a child

Ever wonder what's going on in little kids' minds? I do once in a while. Thanks to Elijah's signing, every so often I get a little peek into his thoughts when I don't expect it.

Elijah has learned a ton of signs by now. One of his favorites is "ball," perhaps because he likes balls. He has quite a few at home and likes to carry two or three in his arms at the same time, and then dump them on the floor. Whenever we are passing a large crate of balls at Target or a child playing with a ball in the street, Elijah never fails to sign "ball" with great excitement.

One day we were at a grocery store and I parked the cart with Elijah in it while picking out some veggies. As I looked up to make sure he was still there and OK, I saw him making a sign. At first it threw me off. It looked like he was signing "ball," but we were in the produce section, so there could be no balls. And the I realized that I put the cart next to a large crate of watermelons, and he decided they were balls! It's a good thing he couldn't reach any of them to see if they'd bounce! Another time we came home from a grocery store with a cantaloupe, which Elijah quickly accepted into his ball collection and treated it as such. He took it up on the couch and then threw it down on the floor. The cantaloupe was still edible after Elijah was done with it.

Another one of Elijah's favorites is a sign for "dog." It's supposed to be a pat on the thigh, as if calling a dog, but Elijah's version of it beating his chest with an open palm. Dogs have always been a love of his. A couple of days ago we saw a pretty dog at a park. Its owner was very friendly and let us come close, and Elijah even got a lick in the face, which he didn't mind a bit. As the dog's owner sat on a bench enjoying the weather, Elijah stood right by, repeatedly signed "dog," shook and squealed with excitement for quite a while. A day or so later we went to the same park. Elijah saw the bench where to dog was, went there, and signed "dog." I am pretty sure he was remembering his furry friend of a few days ago. I told him that the doggy was probably at home and expected him to move on. But he did not. We spent about a half our at the park that morning, and every couple of minutes (no matter whether he was on a slide or on a swing) he'd look at me with sad eyes and sign "dog." I never expected him to remember that dog in the first place, let alone be upset that it wasn't there and keep thinking about it the whole time.