We woke up the other day to find snow on the ground for the first time this season. Joel responded by pointing out the window excitedly and saying "Water! Water! Hao duo! (So much!)" He also pointed to different spots and counted 1, 2, 3, as he often does after saying hao duo.
How on earth did he know that snow was made of water?!?!?
We went outside to play with it. I was excited to make snowballs for him, but then realized that he didn't necessarily think that much of it. So, we have a ball to play with now, that's not that impressive to him. It reminds me of being excited to take him to a petting farm because I had been so impressed when I visited a farm as an adult with how similar the way my uncle imitates them is to the real sound. Well, we've been making that sound while pointing to pictures of roosters ever since Joel was born. So, he again wasn't at all impressed like I was hoping he would be. Of course, that's what he expected to hear when he saw one in person, no big deal.
There was just enough snow to make a little teeny snowman for him, that was maybe 6 inches tall. Up until that point, I hadn't been sure whether he'd been saying snowman or shang mian (on top). But once I made the snowman, he yelled "Snowman!" and ran over and smashed it, so I knew that the sound he'd been making was indeed snowman.
Before the day was done, there was no more snow. But, Joel was still talking about making snowmen. So, I pantomimed making one, which we then did over and over again because he found it so engaging.
This has opened up a whole new world for us of pantomiming doing things instead of actually doing them. Which is fabulous, because it even satisfies his desire to look at things on my computer. I just make a laptop out of my hands (one for the screen, and one for the keyboard), and I point out imaginary pictures of things that he likes to see.
I've been anticipating the challenges of having a two year old with much trepidation. Maybe this new world of pantomiming might make this all seem less terrifying to me. I sure hope so...although, often the new tricks only work while they're still novel...
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Was rereading this blogpost and realized there's a piece of the story that's missing from it. The part that's missing is about why it made sense to me that Joel would smash the snowmen once I made them. With blocks that you stack on top of each other, he would knock the blocks over once I got them all stacked up. Why should it be any different with snowballs that you stack on top of each other?
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