By Donald
H. Harrison
Our 16-month-old grandson, Shor, slept over at our house last weekend,
and
gave us the nicest present that was within his power to give.
He said his first full sentence.
After awakening in the crib that we keep in his away-from-home room,
and
being brought to our bedroom, he spotted a box on a nightstand.
Pulling it down, he said, clearly, audibly and with absolutely perfect
inflection: "Wow! What's this?"
In that his father is from Israel and his mother is from here, Shor
is being
raised bilingually. He might have said
Wow! Mah Zeh? -- "Wow" being an exclamation used by Hebrew speakers
too.
Possibly, he decided to use English out of consideration for his
English-speaking grandparents.
I told Shor what was in the box, as my mind happily played with the
portent
of those first words.
Obviously, I thought, it meant my grandson is intellectually curious.
Evidently, he wants to know about the world around him. Perhaps he
will be
an explorer. A discoverer. A researcher. A pathfinder. A trailblazer.
A
scientist. A talmudic scholar.
Maybe even a journalist?
My wife Nancy had been in the other room when the fateful first words
were
said. She was as excited as I was. "Call the kids!" she commanded.
I quickly dialed my daughter, Sandi, on her Balloon Utopia business
line.
Though it was a lazy weekend morning, she and her husband, Shahar,
were
already hard at work making the balloon sculptures for a big party
that a
client was throwing in honor of a beloved pet. When their cell phone
rang,
they were putting the finishing touches on a balloon parrot that measured
more than eight feet tall.
"Shor said his first sentence!" I told daughter Sandi.
"Really!" My daughter wanted to know. She laughed in delight. ³Give
him a
hug and a kiss for me," she instructed.
"Your mommy is very proud," I told Shor.
Soon, Shahar, who had been in a different part of the room, putting
up
balloon palm trees, phoned back.
"Tell me what happened."
I did.
Shahar said he thought this was indeed a good first sentence.
Later, my son David telephoned and I shared the news with him. I told
my
partner Norman Greene. I told practically everyone who happened to
telephone.
Then Nancy¹s parents, Sam and Sydel Zeiden, came over, and I bragged
to them
about their great-grandson.
"Wow!" said Great Grandpa Sam.
"I've had children and I've had grandchildren, but this one -- he takes
the
cake," added Great Grandma Sydel. She says that often about her only
great-grandchild.
I know what you are wondering.
What was in the box?
Facial tissues -- the kind when you pull one out, another one pops
up.
Take it from Shor, that¹s very interesting when you¹re 16
months old.
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