Everett-isms

Forgive me; you'll have to indulge me on this one. I want to record some of the things Everett does and says lately, because these are the things I know I'll forget but wish I remembered.

WHAT HE SAYS:

I feel like I have a teenager living in the house. Everything is "cause. . ." or "WHY??!!" Everything.

"Everett, why did you turn the TV back on when I told you not to?"
(Standing casually by the TV with his ankles crossed, looking unruffled) "Cause. . ."


"Everett, you need to go make your bed now."
"WHY?!"

We have been talking about feelings lately. Sometimes I go into the kids' room only to discover that Ashley is crying over some cruel injustice (hah). Sometimes I ask Everett what happened.

"Everett, why is Ashley crying?"
"Cause. . .sad!"
"Well, why is she sad?"
(looks at me quizzically) "Cause. . .crying."
"Yes, I know. Why is she crying?"
Exasperatedly: "Cause, SAD!"

Circular logic. Someday we'll be more linear :).


WHAT HE DOES:

Everett has a little battery-operated drill that actually works. The other day Joel pointed it at Everett like a gun (yes, I gave Joel a talking to about that move) and said, "BAM! BAM!"

So now my sweet Everett, who has no concept of what a gun is yet--he's still into Mickey Mouse type stuff--goes up to all of us in the house, drills into our bellies, and gleefully shouts "BAM! BAM!" Thank you, Joel.


Everett is very interested in the state of the sun. For instance, he is the first to point out that the sun has gone down. He knows that he cannot get in bed with us until the sun comes up. He just informed me two minutes ago that the sun is sleeping and reluctantly added "Me." Yes, he knows. If the sun is in bed, Everett is in bed.


Everett also loves to help me cook anything. A couple of weeks ago I was dicing some onions and mincing some garlic, and he got brave and tried some. He really liked it and spent the remainder of prep and dinner picking out little pieces of garlic and excitedly informing me about his discovery.

He also knows to put his dishes in the sink when he is done eating, and if he forgets he is usually happy to do it when reminded. I'd like to hope that this will last until he moves out of the house, but I don't want to kid myself.

When the speech therapist comes and goes through picture cards of prompt words, Everett happily sits down and says them but adds a different little gesture for each picture. I don't know why he does this, but I think it helps him remember what is what.

Everett loves to hide, anytime, anywhere, any way he can. But he can never stay in his spot for long without some giggles bursting out of his mouth.

He has to sleep on the floor in his room, and he cannot sleep without Ashley being in there too. Whenever we talk about going somewhere, the first person he asks about is Ashley. He has to make sure we don't leave her behind. Only then does he worry about Mom and Dad.


WHAT HE HAS LEARNED:

He knows the letters of the buildings his friends live in, and he has learned quite a few other letters. He still gets mixed up on the sounds sometimes but I think this goes hand-in-hand with his speech struggles, so I'm not too worried about it right now.

Everett has just learned about bones and enjoys pointing them out to me on his body and mine. He is fascinated with dinosaur books and especially likes looking at the archaeologists digging.

He also knows which animals eat meat and which eat plants (and, incidentally, where their poop comes out, but that's beside the point). He knows to look at the animal's teeth to tell what it eats, but he mostly just likes doing this with dinosaurs :).

Lastly (you thought this was never going to end, didn't you?) Everett has learned that he LOVES the story of the Three Little Pigs. We read it for the first time on Monday and he has asked for it repeatedly. It really is a great story, with just enough repetition to hook a child his age.