Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Is there an echo in here?

Grayson continues to work on his verbal skills daily and has begun mimicking Michael and I when we least expect it. He doesn't always get the letter sounds just right, but it's a startling reminder that we need to get used to little ears listening.

Not that we curse like sailors or anything, but we are used to using our daily commute to catch up with each other and vent if necessary. Eventually we'll have to be more aware of our conversation topics, but this mimicking is a reminder we should start thinking about it now.

Mike's also decided that he needs to create a Grayson-friendly playlist on his iPod, that way we aren't surprised by any lyrics while in the car.

On a related note, this week I witnessed the television mesmerize my son for the first time. Other than showing him about five minutes of a Baby Einstein DVD and some football coverage, we make a conscious effort not to have the TV on while Grayson is in the living room. He's never really paid much attention to it, but we figured it would be better to play music instead.

When I took Grayson to the pediatrician this week to check out his ear infections and fever, they were playing a children's movie on the waiting room TV. It was animated and he was instantly transfixed on the screen. It was actually a bit scary how powerful of a draw it had on him. He sat perfectly still watching the screen for our entire wait. Part of me didn't mind because it meant he didn't want to explore the germ-infested waiting room.

We'd never planned to withhold television from him forever or anything drastic, but we'd rather he entertain himself with toys or using his imagination. I'm sure Saturday morning cartoons will come soon enough, it was just eye opening to me how strong of a pull that movie had on him. Guess those children's movie producers know their audience.

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