Some Stories Require Few Words...

... but this isn't one of them!

A friend and I joke about how we love to make a short story long.  And chances are, if you've read many of my posts, you'll know just how true that is.

Yep, I use more words than necessary to flesh out a humorous story or dramatic re-telling. 

Not so with my twin grandsons, Levi and Liam.  They don't have many words at their disposal at 19 months old, or at least few that we can understand.  They are fantastic jabberers and twin-language talkers, but it ain't much English they're speakin'!  Yet.

Being twins (preemie twins at that!) and boys, their proper language is naturally going to be a bit delayed.  Also, we're pretty sure that Liam's hospitalization last Spring had at least a temporary affect on his speech development.  But progress is being made and I am thrilled with every little word they speak.  Even the babble is music to my ears!

For a long time Levi was the one to do most of the yacking with Liam responding to him with a slight nod of the head and something loosely translated "I know, right?"

But things seem to be shifting at the moment with Liam's increased interest in verbal communication.  Once fairly silent in his car seat, he now sings along with the radio, vocalizes both frustration and excitement, and lets Levi know his thoughts in a way that we cannot understand.  

Levi expresses himself quite well, too, but he'd rather be on the go than take much time talking about the situation.  His favorite word at this time seems to be "Go!", arm outstretched, index finger pointed as if he were about to charge onto a battlefield.

One day last week we had the boys at our house for the afternoon.  First we spent some time outside running around the yard, testing our balance by toddling up and down the "hill" out back, playing in a puddle, and just all-around seeing what there was to see.  They are mostly motion personified.  Nearly constant in their forward-moving activities.  It is truly an accomplishment for me to get pictures of their faces! 

As Liam was running past a concrete bench out by the shed, he stopped dead in his tracks, pointed and said "Puppy!".  It took me a second to realize that we do, indeed, have a concrete "puppy".  Two of them, really. 

 And I do believe we have 2 up-and-coming story-tellers on our hands. 

Later on when we went inside Levi bumped his lip as he was climbing up onto a wooden bench, and he began to cry.  As Grandpa picked Levi up to console him, Liam stopped his play for about 3-fourths of a second to take in the scene and walked away shaking his head with a "jabber, jabber, jabber... waaaaa (poked out lip and all!)... jabber, jabber, jabber",  as if to recount what had just happened to Levi.

And then a couple days later when the boys came to visit while Mommy and Daddy went out for dinner, Levi showed us his talent for telling a true tale...

As they always do, the boys threw all the pillows on the floor.  But this time, after Mommy and Daddy arrived to pick them up, and we were chatting, and Levi decided to dive head-first into a grouping of three of the pillows.  He apparently does this at home all the time, but since we have a concrete floor and smaller pillows, the result was MUCH different.

"Crack" went Levi's little noggin on the floor! Wailing followed.  Mommy held, rocked, and sang to him until he was calmed.  With tears still in his eyes and a large red circle on his forehead, Levi climbed down from Mommy's lap and re-enacted the whole episode with running commentary, jabber style. In slow motion.  Several times. (Fake) crying included!  It was awfully entertaining!

I realize that these kinds of stories, the Grandma kind, aren't unusual or atypical but I just love telling them.  I'm not really going for amazing, profound, or educational with this.  Just pure, joyful thankfulness that I am able to be an active participant in the lives of my grandchildren.  Not everyone gets that opportunity so I feel compelled to acknowledge  what a blessing it is. Not a right.  Not a duty.  But a gift. And I become a more grateful recipient with the retelling.

And now for the pictures you've ALL been waiting for <big grin>...

Levi thought the blocks were fun for about 2 minutes but Liam played with them for almost 20 minutes.  I took full advantage of him sitting still!