WHHH-aa-TTT, as in What?

So for a little while now I have been going over "words" with the big guy. It’s fun, I love it, and when we do this I feel as if we are the only two people in the world.

We will go over his "words" when he goes to bed, and tonight is the first night I've had the chance to do it in a week. I usually get the little guy in bed first, give him hugs and kisses, then off to the big guy. I get him all ready for bed, turn off his "TT" (his name for the TV) and lay him in bed, cover him up, give him his bumpy (his bumpy is his actual bumper from his crib, he's had the thing since he was born) and then I ask him if he wants to  do his words. No matter how much of a fuss he is putting up about going to bed, he always says yes. 

The first word we do every time is the word "what". The first time he says this word it comes out as "waa". I have to put a lot of emphasis on the "wh" the "a" and the "t", and then he will say it back to my the same way. We do all the "W" words first; what, where, when, why, but I don't put in who or how, they have different beginning sounds, and I don't want to confuse him.

These are not the only words we practice, we also do "ear" "fun" "phone" and a number of other words that have the same beginning sounds. His speech lady gave us a number of different pages that have words on them, so we also do words like "firefighter" and this word he says in the cutest way. It's like he whispers it, like it's so awesome he can only whisper the word. 

This is not the only word he says in a strange way, he says fire the same way by whispering it. He says the word fish really quick, but also with a swishing type of sound. He says the word ear almost like hear. This makes me wonder about how he thinks about words. I have read a little off Temple Grandin's book "Thinking in Pictures", (That link is really cool because it’s all the first chapter plus added material, go and check it out). I think the way he is thinking about the words is almost like the word will carry the action within the pronunciation, or the word will carry the feeling along with the pronunciation, which is really cool.

So the word "fire" carries with it the awe it inspires, the fear it conveys, and dancing magic it inspires. The word "firefighter" carries much of the same feelings, but also carries with it heroism, duty, honor, and strength. If this is true, it’s totally awesome. When we talk to each other, I mean us "normal" people; our words don't carry so much with them.

I will explain to you that a house caught on fire, the house was burning down, and firemen came and put the fire out. You will most likely think of this is a detached way, "just the facts ma'am". If I tell the big guy the same thing it is totally different. When the big guy hears the same story, it's more like this "Awesome, damaging, fearful fire was destroying a home. Then bravery, honor, strength and duty appeared upon the scene to do battle with the flames. After a heated battle, with very heroic moments, honor prevailed and beat back the fearful destructive flames". 

That sounds so much more fun than the "just the facts ma'am" explanation.