Prepositions/Propositions

The Bug is a talking machine these days. Not words that everyone understands by any means, and he's not great with two syllables or with those tricky last consonants, but he mimics just about everything you say and loves practicing his words.

Indeed, he does a lot of things just so that he can practice his words. As we walk down the street, he will sit on random steps just so he can say the word "sit!" (Pronounced "sih".) And he will open and close the door to the balcony over and over so he can say "opeh" and "lohw" respectively. In addition to the door, he will pull my hands or my feet apart and back again while chanting "Opeh, lohw, opeh, lohw."

He's really good with prepositions in general. Besides open and close he says "off" -- one of the few words where he can get that last consonant sound -- repeatedly. ("On" another favorite, sounds closer to "Aww"). "Up" and "dow" also said all the time, for example as he walks down the street alternatively squatting to the ground and standing up tall.

Hi and bye are the other favorites -- and he got to say them a lot this weekend as we went to the beach. The bug waved hi to everyone and then said "bye bye" immediately as he walked away. The only ones he didn't walk away from were the girls. He is a flirt of maximum proportions.

There was one girl he particularly liked on the beach, an older woman at about 6 years old. She was digging in the sand, and Ben would bend over at the waist to get his face right up close to hers and wave "hi! hi!" at her. She wearily would just say "Hi, again," and nicely put up with it. He must have thought he was doing pretty well, because he sat down next to her and I saw him put his hand on her knee. I walked a little closer to make sure he wasn't bugging the poor girl too much -- only to realize he was tugging at her knee while yelling "Opeh! Opeh!"