The dawn of social interaction

Isaac has been around other children nearly all of his life. We joined a playgroup when he was five weeks old, and between that, Kindergym, and playdates, he plays with the same kids on a regular basis.

I use the word "plays" rather generously. For a long time he didn't seem to notice other children, and then when he finally did, he didn't seem to care about them. Even at our most recent playdates just a few weeks ago, his social interaction with the other kids was minimal.

This changed while we were in Minnesota last week. While we were there, we visited my cousin Jennifer and her family. (Thanks for having us! We had a great time!) Those are Jen's two children -- Freya, 17 months old, and Mo, four years old -- pretending to go for a drive with Isaac. Izzy not only played with his second cousins, he actually spoke to them -- not at length, certainly nothing approaching what he says to Craig and me, but there was communication not facilitated by an adult. It was the dawn of social interaction.

Why the change? Perhaps Isaac grew truly comfortable with them because we spent so much time at their house (we stayed three nights). Perhaps it was because Mo spoke to him like a peer and expected him to interact (Isaac usually plays with kids his own age). Or perhaps Isaac has reached the developmental stage where he's interested in playmates (he'll be 23 months old next week).

One of the funniest exchanges between Izzy and Mo involved the two of them taking turns saying "ka-poopa" and laughing hysterically. Isaac didn't quite understand why this was such a funny word, since he doesn't yet think poop is funny, but he was clearly thrilled by his cousin's reaction to it. (As an aside, Isaac says "funny word" several times a day, but he usually means it's a funny-sounding word, like nibble or buggy. Well, I guess ka-poopa also qualifies.)

I'm curious whether Isaac's budding interest in other kids will continue. I need to fully recover from our vacation, however, before I'm ready to handle social interaction back on our home turf.

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Even after we returned home, Isaac continued to think about his cousin, about ka-poopa, and about other similar funny-sounding words. As Isaac was falling asleep last night, he said to himself, "Dad say ka-plunka. Mo say ka-poopa. Dad like ka-plunka best. Ike like ka-poopa best."

Seems like he favors Mo's version.