Hommel Mangas
I placed a raspberry on my 12-month-old grandson John’s squishable portable eating plate. I was instantly intrigued by how this round, flexible little rainbow-colored gadget made it easy for him to poke his fork into food items and feed himself.
When I asked him if he wanted more, he politely placed his fork down, then bunched his pudgy little hands together with his fingers touching his thumb and tapping them together — sign language for “more.” I gave him one more raspberry at a time, and after successfully spearing the round little berry, he laid down his fork on the table and politely signed “more” until he finally put his chubby little hands in the air and flipped his palms front to back signing “all done.”
I found out later that what I thought was an ingenious portable plate was actually a bubble fidget toy called a pop-pop poppers. Go ahead and laugh at me, but the little bubble pockets kept the raspberry stabilized so John could effortlessly stab it without the berry rolling around.
I am continually amazed at all the new baby products, or ones that I surely did not know even existed when I was raising my three little chickadees years ago. When time was hurried, I’m fairly certain I may have just thrown food scraps on the kitchen food and yelled “soooo-ieeee” like my Grandpa Ralph did when he was slopping his Hampshire hogs.
But of course, grandchildren are different, and we have time to cherish and celebrate each “berry-forked” moment before handing them back to our grown children so we can get a refreshing good nights sleep without interruptions.
I do realize that John and my communications through sign language may be short-lived, but I am relishing the eye-contact as he signs “all done,” “more” and “please.” His eyes always light up when I respond to his communication of “more” — but maybe he just really likes raspberries.
Soon his language skills will develop beyond Dada, MaMa, Bird, Beep Beep, and Ahh-wooo (the reply to what does the “Fox and the Hound” dog say?) And in another 15 years, his voice will change and become deeper.
But past, present or future — even with the invention of new-fangled products — nothing will ever replace the age-old communication of a simple hug and an “I love you.”
Janet Hommel Mangas grew up on the east side of Greenwood. The Center Grove area resident and her husband are the parents of three daughters. Send comments to [email protected].
