People are often shocked when they learn that Jaheim is only two. It isn't that he's big for his age, but rather, due to his vocabulary and apparent intellect. It was the same with Shakir. It seemed like Shakir took his time learning to speak and when he felt confident that he wouldn't stumble over his words, he started to talk. He shocked people by using words they never expected a child his age to know and it took ages for me to get some people to realise he was a whole year younger than they thought. He hasn't shut up yet either. Now Jaheim is more of the silent type who conveys his messages with just a raised eyebrow or a pout, etc. Don't be confused into thinking that he has any sort of difficulty expressing himself verbally though, because he doesn't.
The thing about Jaheim is that once he's interested in something, he'll sit quietly or for the length of its duration. Once, he sat in a pew at church during Shakir's steelpan lesson, never moving as he watched the instructor working with the children. On the other hand, Shakir is a little busybody, who needs to be constantly occupied or prepare yourself to talk a lot - either by disciplining him or by answering a lifetime of questions. Anyway, on Saturday, I, along with my cousin-in-law, took them to Chefette along with their cousin, who is also male and close to their age. That little boy is very intelligent and the three of them together are a triple threat. Those boys had the time of their lives running around Chefette's little playground and climbing the thing - I apologise, but I really don't know what they call it. It looks like a little obstacle course for lack of a better description and it has three levels. There is a sign that indicates that the upper level is for big kids. I dare them to tell that to my two year old. He sees the other children climbing to the highest level and he will try it. The first time I saw him do it, I was with my brother, who calmly shrugged his shoulders and asked me what my problem was. He told me his daughter was a little thing like Jaheim when she started climbing to that third level too, so I suppose there is a bit of monkey or acrobat in the family genes. It was while we were on our way back home that we cut across the street to take a shortcut and halfway through the gap, we met a woman having car trouble. She asked if we knew any mechanics in the area. As luck would have it, there are two mechanics who work right in front of me, so I called my husband and asked him if he could get one of them to come over. While he tried to get it organised, I stayed with the lady. We were standing in a big open lot that looked like it was a vacant house spot. There were three large garbage cans turned on their sides on the pasture and someone had dumped an old tree on the property but there was plenty of space for them to run around. My cousin-in-law supervised while I talked to the woman and waited until my husband - the honorary mechanic of the day - came. Well, the boys had a good run around and then Jaheim decided that the twigs from the tree would make brilliant drumsticks and the cans could pass for steelpans. Soon, he was banging happily on a can and making what he considered to be music. This gave Shakir and Caleb the wonderful idea to do the same thing and soon the whole area was flooded with their loud melody. So there I was thinking that boys will be boys when my cousin-in-law started to sing. I hadn't thought things could get much worse before then. Deep in my heart, I said a prayer that my husband would come soon and that no one would call the police to have our little band removed from the area.
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About AllisonAllison is mother to two active boys who challenge her on a day to day basis with their escapades. In her other life, Allison juggles a regular day job as a marketing executive in a health food organization. At night, when everyone is asleep, she dreams of being a fulltime writer and super hero. Archives
October 2016
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