Gratitude

I imagine real gratitude from your child doesn't come until much later, like 30 years or so, but we at least have the cute illusion of it -- Isaac now says "thank you." It came about two months after "please."

Language moves fast. Two or three days ago it was so indistinct that we only figured it out through context clues, then yesterday it sounded like dankoo, and this evening it sounds like tank-oou. Or you can just ignore the phonetic transcription, because it basically sounds like "thank you" said by someone who isn't very good with H.

Tonight he was pretending to deliver the mail, a game involving a cubbyhole in the nightstand, a folded up New York Review of Books, and an old pay stub. "Thank you mailman," he said to himself as he worked.