The Joy of A

It still amazes me, the things that delight a toddler. There’s the more obvious stuff like remote controls, Elmo, knives accidentally left on accessible counters, a parent falling off a chair and twisting their ankle, a parent looking like death because of an ill-advised bout of drinking the night before. You know, that kind of thing.

And there’s the less obvious things. Eating three day old cheerios found amongst the dust bunnies behind the refrigerator, licking snot from the back of a small pudgy hand, watching that nauseous show The Big Comfy Couch, sucking on pepper jack cheese. The list goes on.

At the moment, much to mine and Brad’s surprise, Benny finds particular delight in spotting 1995 Toyota Corollas. Okay, so its not that much of a surprise because it’s the kind of car we own (and, because we live in NY, we only drive it once in a while, so of course Benny gets excited by the sight of them). But it’s the sheer level of excitement that astounds us. Whenever he sees one on our travails around the city – whether its red, yellow, spiffed up, or full of rusted holes – Benny points, whoops and shrieks. It’s as if someone has told him he’s won a year’s supply of permanent markers and a free pass to draw on whichever wall, surface, or precious book he can get his hands on.

But there’s nothing, at the moment, compared to his joy of A. Over the past few weeks, Benny has learnt the letter A (upper case, not lower, in case you were wondering). I’d like to think its thanks to my attentive, educational parenting. But I suspect it is more to do with Sesame Street’s letter of the day. Anyway, whenever he sees the numero uno of the alphabet, he lets out a loud, blissful, high pitched, “AAaaaaaaaa!!!!” This is all very cute and amusing, until you’re stuck in a relatively quiet subway car opposite a shy looking student wearing a “UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA” sweatshirt. “AAaaaaaaaa!!” “AAaaaaaaaa!!” “AAaaaaaaaa!!” “AAaaaaaaaa!!” Poor girl. No wonder she hopped off the train at the next stop.