Scene: The family room at the Harriet household

Voice on the television: �but he gave up his true love for his sense of duty.
AJ: Mommy, did he say �doody?�
Harriet: (snickering) No, he said duty
AJ: (running up the stairs) Daddy!!! He said �doody!� He said �doody!�

* * * * *

Such is the surreal quality of conversations in the Harriet household of late. I�m not even sure what �doody� means in AJ�s vocabulary. It does, however, rank up there with �noony� in the land of AJ-invented vocabulary.

AJ�s penchant for language invention has taken on new twists now that he is feeling comfortable enough with writing his letters to concentrate on spelling. He likes to write out invented words and figure out how to say them. He�s very good at sounding out words, but the concept of spelling is still a bit mysterious to him. AJ learned to read very early, but it was not a process that involved phonics. Rather, he seemed to have a near-photographic memory for whole words. In anticipation of frustration of spelling, we�ve been practicing phonics. He�s now dedicating himself with amazing tenacity to figuring out spelling via a new obsession with making lists. We make lists of the names of the children in his class. We make list of the characters in the Magic School Bus books. I�ve been putting him to work writing grocery lists for our weekly shopping trips � this takes longer than the actual shopping and requires reams of paper.

Despite these scholarly pursuits, AJ has continued to be more and more interested in other children. His relationship with his friend N. seems to be flourishing. They run toward each other with joy whenever they see each other at school. Last Friday, when I dropped AJ off at school before heading up to Madison, the two of them were walking around their classroom holding hands. Today when I left him at school, they were rubbing each other on the head and giggling. We hope to plan another play date soon.

But in the mean time, I must get back to work. The paper I gave this weekend was accepted to an ethnomusicology conference in April (gah!), just four days after I teach my first class in 10 years. I have a feeling I�m going to be subsisting on caffeine and adrenaline for the next month or two.

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