I am so loving conversing with Otto! I love getting to know him through how he's interpretting the world around him. The other day we were laying in bed after nap again and had 2 amazing (to me anyway) conversations....
The 1st one.....
Otto said, "Be-" (short e sound). I said, "what?" And he repeated himself. I said, "bed" He said, "no." I said, "bear?" He said, "no." I said, "I don't know what you're saying." He's very good at charades or whatever it takes to help me figure it out. He said, "coo-coo monti" (which means Cookie Monster).
I said, "oh Ben?" He said, "yeh!" To remind you, if you've read about our tragedy here lately, Ben "Cookie Monster" died. For Otto to bring him up out of the blue like that is very strange. I'm sure he's heard us and everyone around here talking about stuff but I still think it's weird!
Anyway, I said, "what about him?" He said, "where is he?" Now, I'm telling you, this was SO odd for Otto to be asking about Ben in the first place and then to be asking about his whereabouts was very strange!!!! I said, "he's up in heaven with Jesus." He said, "why?" I said, "b/c Jesus said 'come on Ben it's time to come be with me!' And Ben said 'OK!'" Otto said, "oh" And that was that. I decided since that went so well, I'd add that Andrea was with Jesus now too. He remembered when she came over and played in the puddles with them b/c he said something about that time implying "is that who you're talking about?" I said, "yes, Andrea, she played in the puddles with you." He said, "oh" And the conversation was over! I laid there in disbelief that I just had a conversation about death with him.
The 2nd one...
A few moments later from that last conversation, still while we're laying there on the bed, Otto is observing the photos of he and Owen on the shelves on the wall. He points out "Otto baby, Owen baby" Then he asks, "what mama doing me baby" (which means what were you doing when I was a baby?) I said, "I was praying for you." He said, "where?" I said, "at home" He said, "oh."
Then he asked, "what mama doing OE baby?" (which
means what were you doing when Owen was a baby?) I said, "I was taking care of him." Then it came.....the 1st real question trying to understand adoption. I was dying!!!!! He said, "why mama no care me baby?" (which means why mama didn't take care of me when I was a baby?) I very matter of factly said, "B/c Yohana was taking care of you when you were a baby." He said, "oh." And that was that. (Yohana was his foster mom in Guatemala. And he knows that from his Lifebook. We talk about it when we look through his book.) Thankfully he was satisfied with that and that was the end of the conversation b/c I was dying inside! I couldn't believe we just had that conversation!!!! Lord, give me the wisdom to know exactly WHAT to say and HOW MUCH to say whenever the questions arise.
What a glorious afternoon of laying on the bed talking with my son waiting for other one to wake up. I was blown away by the connections he's making and what's going on in that little noggin of his!
Otto was saying these things this morning, and I wasn't paying much attention until a pattern caught my ear. He said, "October, November, December." I said, "Otto, are you saying the months of the year?!" And he got this huge proud grin on his face. So I started him off with January and he continued (with just a little bit of help a couple times) to recite all 12 months of the year!!!!! Wow! I was so proud I felt choked up! I've also realized in the past couple days that he can recite the days of the week too! They recite them 
everyday at school. I'm definitely gonna have to continue that this summer. I'm gonna make him up an Otto calendar. Especially so he can keep track of what's going on each day. He has to know what the schedule is. this summer he has speech therapy, occupational therapy, play therapy (for emotional issues), and in June he has gymnastics class twice a week. Right now, he'll recite his week by saying "school, school, school, school, school, Saturday, church" referring to Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun. This summer though he can't say that anymore! (These pictures are from our visit to the Children's Hands-On Museum in Brownsville. It was a very neat place for the kids to play and pretend!)
He is talking up a storm and his imagination is so great! He loves to pretend a T-Rex is getting him! When he and Papa are on the bed, he'll say that a T-Rex is coming and they have to hide under the covers. Sometimes Aaron will pretend to be the T-Rex and Owen will run away with a squeal of laughter pretending to be afraid! Hilarious! 
