Pay attention, Mommy!

Tucker has become so skilled with his sign language that he can now alert me to various things in his environment, even before I notice them.

When we were in our hotel room in Ohio, I turned on a British comedy show, which Tucker is surprisingly a big fan of, since I needed to organize and unpack. We could not find anything on TV showcasing Mickey Mouse, the Cartoon Network was boring him to tears (literally) and it seemed like British comedy would be less offensive than some of our other options.

Next thing I know, Tucker is following me around the room signing "horse." Again and again. I said, "Horse? No, no horses here, Sweet Pea. No horses."

He was persistent: horse, horse, horse. Finally, I looked at the TV to see, right there and larger than life, a horse.

You're right, Tuck. There's a horse, of all things.

Last night, he was eating his yogurt in his high chair when he began saying, "Shhh. Shhh. Shhh." That usually means he has found someone asleep, and he's reminding us to be courteous and keep our voices down. But we were all awake, including Tyler.

I said, "Tucker, nobody is sleeping. It's okay. You don't have to be quiet."

Still he continued, "Shhh. Shhh. Shhh." He pointed to the little cup of yogurt in his hand. I looked at it, and sure enough: the cartoon monkey on the cup had his eyes closed.

You're right, Tuck. The monkey is sleeping. We should be quiet.

One thing's for sure: I am learning to pay more attention to what he wants to tell me. While I used to patronize him and say, "No, no, there are no birds around," I am now learning that he knows what he's talking about, and I should stop and find the bird that has caught his eye.

He's one smart cookie. (And he knows the sign for that, too.)