My Son, The Talker

I realized, recently, how verbal my son has become this year. It's been really hot lately, and Wednesday afternoon, I decided to pull his kiddie pools out to the driveway, so we could cool off a bit. I absolutely love his little rigid pool because I can lay out in it, and there's still enough room for him to play, too. The water felt great, and we both had fun splashing around and trying to get as wet as possible. At one point, I sat back and looked up at the sky. The clouds were big and fluffy, and I thought it might be fun to do a little "cloud-gazing" with V. I pointed to one and said it looked like a dragon with fire coming out of its mouth, and then, a hissing snake. He looked at another cloud and said it looked like "Franklin", which I assumed he meant "Franklin, the Turtle" from the Noggin Channel. In a way, the cloud did look like a turtle. He said another one looked like a "doggie", and one more looked like "Wii Bike!", which is his name for the game, MarioKart. I really could see what he was seeing in the clouds, and I marveled at how imaginative he's become just over the past month or two. I've noticed little things that show me his intellectual and verbal growth, and they all amaze me. He's started "reading" some of his books to himself, and at bed time, he likes to read his favorite book, Moo, Baa, La La La, along with B or I. He answers questions fairly clearly and asks for things, as well, though sometimes, it takes me a few tries before I get it right. He can count up to ten, knows a few of his shapes, and even knows most of his colors, though he likes to argue with me when I try to explain that blue is blue, not purple. I love that he knows his own name, and one day at the park, he even introduced himself to a much older boy, pointing to his chest and saying "I Vincent". Sometimes, he wants me to carry him "downstairs" when he really wants to go "upstairs", but at least, he understands the concept. Just this past week, I noticed him answering the puppy, Blue, on "Blue's Room" when she asked a question. He did it with Dora on "Dora the Explorer", too, saying "yes" or "no" when her backpack was trying to find the right tool for her job. It really kind of floored me that he suddenly started "participating" instead of just passively watching his favorite shows. He sings along with many of the shows' theme songs, though he gets embarrassed when I notice and hates it when I try to sing with him. Lately, I've been telling a lot of new moms I meet that he'll be three years old in August. Every time I say it, I can't believe that it's already been three years since his birth. The time has really, truly flown by, and lately, my son never ceases to amaze me. I really hope I can keep up with him in the coming years, so I don't miss anything new and special. Like, today, when I noticed he was upset about something. I said, "Are you mad?" and he said, with a pout, "Yeah". When I asked him why he was mad, he said, "Because..." How did my baby suddenly get to be so grown up?!?