"Stop It!"

It has been a while since I have given an update on Jason. I have had several people ask me how his English is doing. Well, I’m not sure how much Mandarin he actually spoke in Taiwan and I don’t expect him to start speaking full sentences of English anytime soon, but he probably has a vocabulary of about 25 words. He is particularly good at mimicking sounds of things such as the tea- kettle. He has started saying, “Mom! Deedle doodle daddle….” Because he hears Kate and Steve say this and he is trying for the same thing.

His first combination of words came when we were on our vacation in Virginia. He already likes to take up more than his share of space in the back seat and sticks one leg out of the car seat in one direction and on in the other. Stephen jokingly told him to “Stop It!” and the next then I heard was, “Bop-it!” They did this back and forth several times, which was hilarious. He also has a particular fondness for shoes and brushes. He wants to have his shoes on (doesn’t matter which pair) at all times. He will reluctantly let me take them off at night when I say “Night- Night!” to the shoes. He thinks it is important for everyone else in the house to have their shoes on, too, so if someone is lacking a pair he will grab some from the shoe rack and try to put it on their feet.

He also loves to carry a brush around wherever we go. Kate got tired of him stealing hers so she bought him one of his own. Now he just carries them both around, one in each hand. It’s funny that if he can’t find his shoes or his brush, he will call them; “Shoes……!” or “Brush……!” While he won’t sit in front of a movie and watch it, he loves to sit in front of Kate’s CD player and listen to children’s music. In fact, he especially loves the tape she listened to when she was little. He will sit there for a long period of time just staring at the player and listening to the music.

Otherwise, Jason is basically one of the gang. He keeps us in smiles.