Caleb is coming into his own when it comes to speaking. Anna was an early speaker, so Caleb's speech has seemed a little slow to progress. Of course, none of this matters one bit once they're four. For now, Caleb's development is particularly rewarding for its comic value.
Today, for instance, Caleb discovered my mobile phone. Possibly because we most often get the casual call from Opa, Caleb associates the phone solely with Opa ("Opa" is loosely translated as "grandfather" in Dutch). Phones, for Caleb, are the great human invention of having a direct line to Opa regardless of where Opa might be. They are so synonymous with Opa to him that it wouldn't even occur to Caleb that you could speak with someone other than Opa over them. Accordingly, he picks up my phone, flips it open, puts it to his head and explains to me: "Opa." In an effort to avoid an inadvertent call to the UK, I ask for the phone. He hands it over and I put it in my pocket. Only in this instance Caleb really wants to speak to Opa. Minutes go by with me trying to distract him with cars and trucks and books but to everything his only response is, "Opa." When he tries to retrieve my mobile from my pocket, I relent. "Okay, Caleb, we'll phone Opa."
I ring. Conveniently, Opa answers. I give him the quick explanation that Caleb wants to speak with him and hand the phone over. As I hand the phone to Caleb, I explain that Opa is on the phone. Caleb puts the phone to his ear and I only get one side of the conversation, which went something like this:
"Dump." (translation: dumptruck)
"Yeah." (time passes)
"Yeah." (more time passes)
"Yeterday." (translation: yesterday)
"Yeah." (not much time passes)
"Bye bye."
"Bye Bye Opa."
"Bye."
Done. I have no idea what Opa said to Caleb but am reasonably certain that Opa didn't start with an opening salutation relating building machinery or diggers or trucks. I am not sure what prompted Caleb to bring up yesterday, but it is a favourite word at the moment, so it is likely that it too was unrelated to anything Opa was saying. The "yeahs" may or may not have been in context and I'm suspicious that the call was cut short by Caleb, despite it being the only thing he wanted to do for more than 10 minutes. But, he seemed to enjoy the call. Feeling quite smug with himself over a successful call to Opa, he proceeded downstairs and picked up the unplugged phone on the floor and, after explaining to me that he was phoning Opa (i.e. he looked at me and said, "Opa.") had very much the same conversation into the dead receiver.
