Vian is picking up new words. His new addition is “Yeah”. It is pronounced with an emphatic “EYAH!” (imagine a Karate yell). I like asking him random questions that are at the edge of his understanding and watch him say “Yeah!”. But sometimes he uses his “Yeah!” with such precision it catches us off guard. Such as last night when we were getting him ready for bed. Yoshi: Vian, would you like to hold a toy?...

Vian has been picking up a few words courtesy of Sempi. The words he has picked up so far are the ones that Sempi uses with forceful emotion. STOP: Whenever Vian tries to take Sempi’s toys, Sempi yells “STOOOOP” with conviction and distress. So that’s the first word that Vian decided to pick up. Now he uses it with us generously. He can’t quite pronounce the sound “ssss” so his STOP sounds like “TOP”....

When I drop off Sempi at school, I walk him to the front desk where they have name badges for the kids arranged in random order. I ask Sempi to pick out his badge while I sign the sign-in sheet. This is my way of training him to recognize his name. This morning he told me, “Appa, do you see how the safety pin is attached sideways to my badge? I did that yesterday so I can find my badge easily in the mornings”....

Yoshi was washing her face in the bathroom while Vian was playing with the bathroom scale. Yoshi: Why is it upside down? Vian: Appaaaa Yoshi: Appa did it? Vian: Appaaa Yoshi: oh, appa did it Vian: Appaaa Appaaa Yoshi: no Vian, you did it Vian: (silence) All of this happened while I was at work. Appa means dad in Tamil.

Conversation with Sempi this morning. Me: I’m going to finish making the fried rice and then we can do our usual shenanigans. What do you say? Sempi: Yeah, you finish the fried rice and then we’ll throw it in our mouths. It was a wonderful morning. :)