Henry Says Hello

He's asleep. I can quickly tell you about the latest addition to his vocabulary. Just two days ago he learned the word hello. We have an old phone and he loves to play with it. He also loves to throw it across the room with his other toys but this particular day he wanted to learn how to use it. He puts the handpiece to his ear, reversed but he didn't know that, and said very clearly "hal - lo" in a singsong voice. It was so adorably cute and we all clapped and cheered as we do when he learns something new. Now whenever the phone rings he says "Hal - lo". Of course we get excited and stupidly believe that the person on the other end may want to hear him say this and put the phone to his ear but he clams up. Nothing comes out. Not even a breath. The other person waits patiently, thinking of all the other things they would rather be doing, like maybe lapping up a spot of sunshine by a pool somewhere in Fiji, but nothing. Not a sound. It's the curse of a parent to believe that everyone will be excited by the small milestones our children make. They don't really care. They just humour us by listening to our never ending dialogue of how wonderful our children are and how smart and advanced they are. I just want to say that my children are wonderful, smart and advanced.