Last night I put on his pajama pants and said “Schloop!”, with a low tone that slid sharply up as I did so. Now, this is a fairly timid confession for a father to make, that he has said something silly to his son. I’m aware this breaks convention with the stoic and stern father who sometimes restrains tears of shame when SON appears interested in dollies. Wait a minute, what was I saying? ..
So anyway, when I said “Schloop!”, he giggled intensely. I love this giggle. It is my favorite sound in the whole world. He’s my most favorite first SON I’ve ever had. Fortunately, I am not a polygamist, so this is not a comparative statement that will make some other son hang his head in sorrow over not being a favorite.
Double anyway, a large part of why he giggled was because he was wired. He was wired because his cousins (Tia’s nieces and nephews) are visiting for a family reunion, and he seldom sees so many other babies (FATHER hangs his head in shame – we need to get him out to see other kids – and we need to get out to see family and old friends more often).
Triple anyway, he was wired because he had been very happily playing with other babies and kids all evening, and stayed up late to do so, and was in the too excited to succumb to sleep mode. I knew this word was one of those things I’d found that was a one-time amusement charm, a magic discovery that could be employed repeatedly for a while because of the novelty; perhaps he has never encountered the “sch” sound, and actually for myself I’ve never said or heard said “Schloop!” that way, though I might be wrong. Whatever the cause, this was very novel to him, and I said it repeatedly and each time he giggled. He sat up and focused a great deal of amused attention on my lips and repeatedly tried to say the word in just the same way himself, struggling to find the opening consonant – “Bl.. dd.. pp.. dd!” but never quite getting it. I’m sure he got closer and it will come out of him eventually, but meanwhile I greatly enjoyed his amusement with the word as I repeated it, which amusement slowly faded.
The novelty’s gone. This has happened with various other sounds, gestures, and words, but there are always more. It’s just a matter of finding them. A while ago he was very amused with my sharply turning my head away when he applied only just a bit of force with his hand to the side of my head, or bopping my head down on his rattle for no reason at all.