Signage

"Hey Ollber. Hey, hey, hey Ollber. You see that STOP sign?"

This is a typical conversation with James, although often he has it with me or J or Owen instead of Uncle Ollber.

"I do see that STOP sign. Can you see it?"
"I do. I see the P."
"I see it too. Now I can see the OP."
"Now I see the whole sign. S-T-O-P spells STOP."
"That's right, James, good work!"
"Fanks."
"Hey James, what does P-O-T-S spell?"
"That would spell POTS."

If nothing else, the child knows his signs.

STOP signs are his favorite, but also DO NOT ENTER signs. There are two DO NOT ENTER signs opposite us at the school across the street, and there are exactly six STOP signs within the two block walk that we take almost every day. It's very important to keep a sharp look out for each of these signs so that we can identify and comment upon each one. There's also one particularly odd STOP sign which leans significantly to the right. James is deeply concerned for this STOP sign and wonders when a big truck will come to fix it. So far, no luck.

He also has started to read road signs when we're in the car (which has been often lately) and yesterday he cried out in surprise from the back seat that "Oh, no! I forgot to look for the sign that has the letter A and it has the letter 2 next to it!"

I asked him what sign he was talking about, since we didn't pass an Exit 2A on the way to my church.

It was the exit sign off of 590 to Monroe Ave. You know, where we lived 7 months ago.

Best of all though, are his recognitions of the billboard advertisements for Wegmans and for Tim Horton's. He'll notice one and won't say anything for a moment, even though I can tell what he's thinking. Then we'll get something along these lines:

"Hey, Daddy?"
"Yes, James?
"I was finking.."
"What were you thinking, James?"
"I was finking what might be a good idea."
"What do you think would be a good idea?"
"I fink that maybe...maybe we should..."
"Maybe we should what?"
"Hey, maybe we should stop at Tim Horton's and you could get a coffee and I could get a Timbit, does that sound like a good idea?"
(That almost always does sound like a good idea, even though we don't always do it."

We need to make lots of stops at Wegman's, though. Because, in his own words, it's important that James eats his food "...so that I can grow bigger and be as tall as a STOP sign."