Zusha loves to tell me about how life was when he was a baby. He remembers some of the words he used to mispronounce, and sometimes when I say a word the way he used to, he recognizes it.
So he says, "When Zusha was a very small baby like Gedalya, Zusha didn't say 'orange,' Zusha said 'onees.'"
He also likes to tell me about when he was in the hospital. I once showed him the hospital and told him that that's where he and Gedalya were born, and everyone came to visit them, and then they came home to live with us. So now Zusha likes to throw in the hospital into every story about his babyhood.
He was telling me about a certain video of him, taken last year, in which he is riding on his rocking train and talking to me. Since it was taken a long time ago, he assumed it was when he was a baby in the hospital. So he said, "Mama brought train to hospital, and Zusha was riding in it."
Other stories "from the hospital:"
Zusha was very small baby, and went to hospital with Mama. Mama held Zusha's hand and we went together. Mama held Zusha very gentle, because Zusha was baby. Zusha said, "Ooooh, Zusha is very small baby, can't walk, only crawl." And Zusha ate pink yogurt, and everyone came to Zusha in hospital, Tatte, and Babushka S, and Babushka I, and Gedalya...
Of course, I don't have the heart to tell him that when he was a baby in the hospital, there WAS no Gedalya.
Which brings me to another favorite statement, "When Zusha was a very small baby like Gedalya, Zusha didn't say Gedalya, Zusha said Dlaya."
Um, Mister, when you were a very small baby like Gedalya there was nobody to call Dlaya or Gedalya to begin with...
But in about a week, it will all be different... because Gedalya will be the age that Zusha was when he became a big brother. Yup, so when Zusha tells me what he did with Gedalya when he was Gedalya's age, it will make sense.
I can't believe that Zusha was really so little when he got a baby brother. I perceived him as being much older than I perceive Gedalya now.
Oh, and this Shabbos we had a guest who last came a few months ago. So Zusha said, "This man came to our house a long time ago, when Zusha was a toddlierr."
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