Throwing in The Vowel

Hello all! Long time no post. Have a world of stuff to catch up on for the blog and don't know when I'll get to it, but I wanted to get a couple of things up here today.

The picture above is one of Kiernan eating lunch during a recent trip to Virginia. I realize this does not look like a picture of a person eating lunch, but it is. This is what Kiernan looks like while he is eating lunch in a restaurant. Notice the complete lack of a table or any food in the picture. Rather than saying that he is a restless toddler who has far too much exploring to do to be bothered with any food that is not ice cream while in public, I'll just say that he is an amazing multitasker like his mother and leave it at that. Accentuate the positive.

As I indicated above, there is a great deal going on in Kiernan's life right now. He is starting a new school, planning a change of residence, and has undergone a major wardrobe transformation. I'll try to cover those things in posts to come. In this post let me just cover five letters that have become very important to Kiernan.

Wendy has been teaching him the difference between vowels and consonants. I know, it's ridiculous that we've waited so long to teach him this concept. I feel horrible about it. Luckily he's picking up on it quickly, and with no small amount of passion. He loves the vowels in particular, carrying around his foam A, E, I, O, and U bath letters and singing "The Vowel Song" over and over again. ("The Vowel Song" is an invention he and his mother came up with; the song basically takes "Old MacDonald" and replaces the animals with letters.)

He's grown quite attached to his vowels. This morning as I strapped Kiernan into his car seat so that he and his mother could go off to his new school, he got upset that he had left them in the house. Wendy had to go back inside the house to get Guinea Pig; as she made her way to the door Kiernan made his vociferous case that she pick up his vowels as well. Guinea Pig is current holder of the title Most Favored of All Possessions, and has been for some time. He's a little stuffed guinea pig named, appropriately enough, Guinea Pig. Kiernan likes to have him along in the car so that he can put him behind his head like a little pillow.

He couldn't have cared less that Mom was going to get Guinea Pig. "I want A, E, I, O, U." He said, at first calmly. "Your vowels are in the house, honey," one of us said. "I want A, E, I, O, U!" As Wendy disappeared into the house he began to repeat this over and over again, his words increasing in intensity and urgency until tears sprang from his eyes. Okay, I'll be blunt: he was on the verge of throwing a fit. About five foam letters. (Lest you think I'm overlooking something here, I'm not. We're ignoring "Y" for the time being. A "sometimes vowel" is not worth the trouble. That's part of it anyway. Mostly I'm just annoyed with "Y" for not coming out and embracing it's vowelhood already. Sometimes Y. Please. You're a vowel. Get over it.)

Wendy came back out of the house. She was carrying Guinea Pig in one hand, holding him before her. She held her other hand out of sight. She approached the car as Kiernan made another impassioned plea for his five favorite letters. "Is someone in this car being fussy?" Wendy asked.

Kiernan bravely wiped away his tears.

"I'm not going to be fussy anymore."

She said, as we often do when he becomes demanding, "I wish there was a nice way you could ask for those letters."

He wiped away more tears and calmly said, "Can I have my vowels, please?"

Can I have my vowels please. Awesome.

Of course, the consonants are feeling neglected. I keep telling them their turn will come, but they're having none of it. I understand, though I do think it's unduly spiteful of them to be giving "Y" the cold shoulder. In spite of my stated feelings about the conflicted letter, he certainly doesn't deserve to be shunned by the consonants.

English is such a cruel language.