Jonathan likes to tell himself what is going on, like commentary to watching children TV or a DVD. He also scolds me if he thinks I confused something (mommy, its a turtle, not a frog – you got it wrong/you have confused it- I admit I do not always see things the way he does). Original thinking and problem solving expresses itself repeatedly , like his coping with a renovation in our apartment.
Watching a DVD with Jonathan is always fun because he delights so much in it. He also gives live commentary. When he was little, this commentary showed itself in an imitation of the actions in the DVD (like falling on the ground when the coyote gets crushed in the road runner cartoons – Jonathan's favourite DVD for interactive television (Jane Fonda like) sport). He also sings along with the DVD's.
Recently his commentary has taken a more advanced form – he either asks questions related to the ongoing story (Why does the mouse get the cat wet? Typical Tom and Jerry question) or he explains the action (the magic egg will now fall on his foot! Boom! Bang! And he is magical... a short summary of en episode of the Smurfs). Sometimes he even answers his own questions after posing them (the mouse likes to bother the cat – Tom and Jerry again) having heard the same explanation from me to those questions a few times, he simply remembers the answers.
Jonathan also likes to explain his surroundings. Thus he announced one day that his daddy was just too big to sit on mommy's lap and he might fall and bang his head “Boom! Bang!” The sounds were made in extra enthusiasm to make sure daddy understood the danger.
Jonathan is a boy that likes his home and feels good and secure in it. After a long weekend at his grandparents, he will wish to go to “my house”, and then he shows great relief when we get home. This feeling of safety was taken away one day, when we started packing away a large book shelf that dominates our living room while preparing for a small renovation (we painted the walls after about 7 years of residence and installed a new laminated flooring).
In emptying the shelves, we changed the look and feel or the room considerably and Jonathan's reaction was to ask us where had his house gone. He was looking for it also during the days of the renovation. And even after the renovation was finished, as the house now looked different (because of the new floor, the books were back in the shelves) he still looked for it a while, and at the same time admitting the new “surprise” apartment was nice. Each time we tidied up a room after it was painted and floored, he declared that “the room is back” and enjoyed it immensely. He also enjoyed helping me pack, by bringing me books from a pile to put into the boxes.
In the stacked up living room, he solved the problem of not having his usual table accessible for his dinner, by improvising an eating space by using a chair and covering it with his place mats. Taking out all the cushions of our sofa and building a house by placing them on the side like a wall is another typical pass time, the extra bonus to this house construction is that jumping on the sofa platform is really a lot of fun... It was also fun to use one of the empty cartons as a house to hide in for a few days after the renovation. Hiding in containers is a favourite activity and Jonathan uses every opportunity. Thus when we returned from a trip abroad, he curled himself into the empty suitcase when I left the room to put the dirty laundry in the bathroom. The only way for me to know where he was, was because of the fact that the suitcase was giggling when I returned to the bedroom.
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