>Wed, Boo (updated)

>Though the title suggests some sort of aversion to marriage, this week’s fun new skill refers to colors. Sebastian has figured out that objects not only have names, they have other attributes as well (mostly shape and color, though he likes to say big, too). His color knowledge seems really impressive if you show him his favorite red ball and ask him, “What color is the ball?”

Then he’ll – oh so confidently – say, “Wed,” and sign it, too! Woohoo, I thought at first, he’s learning his colors! But he’ll quickly follow it up with “Boo.” He’ll do this for any object whatsoever. Everything is red and if it’s not red (or even if Mama says it is), it must be blue.

The current pronunciations:
yellow “reh-woh”
orange “ohn-juh”
green “geen” with a hard g like go not giraffe
purple “puh-poh”
brown “bown”

The very best part of this new skill? It can distract him from virtually any temper tantrum he might be having. I can deny him a fifth walk around the block, a second handful of Elmo crackers (love how he says Elmo, too!), or a zillionth rereading of a book at bedtime, and the ensuing tantrum is halted in its frowny-faced tracks when I utter the following magical sentence, “Sebastian, what color is your shirt?”

I get silence, a look, then a teary, “Wed…Boo.”

Love it.

I’ll try to add a video later so you can enjoy it from afar.

Here’s the video! It took me a couple tries because he kept answering that his shirt was “wed” without doing the “boo”! Perhaps we’re getting closer to color understanding…? Clarifications: he says ‘hi’ at the beginning, the finger down his lips is the sign for “red,” and the shaking hand is close to the sign for “blue.”
http://www.youtube.com/get_player

In other NW news, we are finally getting over our horrible cold, much to the daddy’s relief. The hacking coughs are all that remain, but they are fewer and farther between. Thanks for the healthy thoughts you sent our way!