On the 18th my mom and I took the bean to his first visit of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “John John,” we told him, “we are going to go to a place where we will see lots of different kinds of FISH!”
“Viff!” he exclaimed (That means fish, for those of you who didn’t already know).
“Yes! And maybe we’ll see jellyfish and sharks and crabs and penguins!”
“Octopus!” he added on his own.
“Yes, and maybe even an octopus!” I said, amazed.
He was excited. My favorite thing about watching him be engaged is that ‘quiet attention’ face of pure engrossment and concentration. You’ll recognize it on the second image down. He is a little sponge.
^^^Quiet attention forever!^^^
Now, he can pronounce ‘fish’ correctly (though I must concede, I’m a little sad…’viff’ was so cute, though he does still say ‘Sea Animo.’ I’m sure that, too, will be short lived. He’s growing up!) and can properly identify those ‘animos’ on his ocean-themed pajamas: Sea Turtle, Hammerhead Shark, Mako Shark, Whale.
Good times! Nice memories!