The Moments - Chapter 6: It's only words...

                Probably the most fascinating thing to me in observing my son is his developing powers of verbal expression – more specifically, what seems to fuel it.  At 2 years of age, I don’t think of Joey as being susceptible to the kind of random word and phrase and concept associations that I am.  However, as soon as I settle into the notion that he is not something, he proves that he certainly is.  I am accustomed to my own unexplainable ability to think of something seemingly unrelated to the moment when prompted by no more than a word, a view, or a sound.  It may result in a song coming to mind, a film quote coming out of my mouth, or a flood of memories long since considered.  Joey seems fully capable of his own version of this as well, as he proved to me recently.  One morning last month, while getting Joey dressed and ready for the day, I was about to put a plain red t-shirt on him.  He must have focused his eyes on the shirt’s tag because he asked me, “What that say, Daddy?”  Thinking he meant the shirt itself, I responded with, “I don’t know, son.  I don’t see any words on it.”  Simply from my uttering the word “words,” Joey quickly broke into the chorus, “It’s only words… and words are all I have to take your heart away.”  Before I remembered how he actually knew that song, I said, “Joey, how can you be singing a Bee Gees song?”  Then, I remembered that “Words” is the only Bee Gees tune I have ever known to be covered by Joey’s favorite artist – Elvis Presley.  Wow!  What a random connection, though.  While the King’s version of “Words” is not on any of my Elvis CDs, this started my occasional playing of a Bee Gees greatest hits CD when Joey doesn’t otherwise make a request.  It’s nice for him to hear the roots of some of his favorite Elvis performances.  And to think, it all came from a plain t-shirt.  This is one of many examples of Joey’s developing powers of mental and verbal processing.  Some of them just remind me that my boy is already becoming a pop culture whiz.  I can’t get enough of this little man!