Vocabulary Building

The past few weeks Eli has been using a lot of new words, and some of the ones he's been saying for a while are much more clear. This "vocabulary explosion" has been fun for me, especially since sometimes it's just so darn cute and funny. He still whines for what he wants, but if he thinks he's not going to get something, he'll say the word. For instance, last week he wanted a cookie. He was whining for one, and I told him he couldn't have it. He went into the living room, threw himself belly first on the floor and started crying (what his typical tantrum consists of). When he could tell that I was ignoring him, he went into the kitchen. Through sniffles, he turned to me with the cutest little face and said, "cookie, please...please." I must admit, I couldn't stay strong. I gave him the cookie.

He has been saying please for a while. In fact, it was his first word, but now he knows how to use it better. Before, he would use it instead of the word yes. Now he says both. Of course, he can now say no too. Josh and I find ourselves laughing when he uses that one because he uses it with such clarity. It's as if he relishes the "o" sound. Some of his other well-used words are: digger, garbage, leaf blower, Bob the Builder, helicopter, car, dog, bye, dad, basketball, done, and binky. He uses other words too, but these are some of his favorites. You can tell what interests him, huh? And no, I'm not kidding, he really does say Bob the Builder. We have one DVD of it, and he asks to watch it everyday. One day he was whining to watch it, and I told him if he could say it, he could watch it. I didn't really think he would say it, but out came Bob the Builder. It wasn't crystal clear, but it was obvious what he was saying. Now he says it all the time.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the words a lot more than the whining. For some reason his tantrums seem to be more manageable when I know what he's throwing a tantrum about.

Toying With My Emotions

Yesterday Josh took his oral qualifier--yet another hurdle on his path to obtaining his PhD. Of course, I was anxious for him all day. When he called me after he was finished, first he asked me if I had received the message he had left on the phone. I was out and hadn't checked the messages, so I said no. Then he told me that he hadn't passed. My heart sunk. What could I say? What could I do? He told me he had one more chance to pass, or else he would be out of the program. I felt really bad.

When we hung up, I checked his message on the phone. He said he had passed, so I called him right back and told him not to play with my emotions. He laughed and said that that was what the professors had done to him. They came out and said, "We don't think you passed." (Pause for half a minute.) Then they smiled (maybe laughed) and said, "We think you passed with distinction." I'm sure that Josh was quite stunned for a half a minute, though apparently the only thing he could muster out was "okay."

Anyway, I know he probably doesn't want me to brag about him, but I don't do it very often, so I don't feel too bad. He got a note from the department that said, "Congratulations on your achievement today. It is a rare honor to pass the Oral Qualifying Examination with distinction. In fact, only twelve students before you have done so." Good job, Josh! He definitely deserves it. Yes, he's smart, but he's put in a lot of hard work. Now on to the dissertation. He says he should be done in December of 2011. We'll see. :-)