As part of his increased verbosity, Charles has also been much more energetic about asking “what is this?” about random objects that are close at hand, which of course normally means cars and trucks. But he’ll frequently cycle through the set of cars he has, asking for each one in turn and sometimes (it’s so cute!) switching the order with an expectant grin, hoping to trip up Dad.
What I find interesting is that when I turn the tables on Charles and ask him what things are, he does well except when I ask what he is. This seems to fluster him, as if he can’t quite conceive of the idea that he needs a name. He’s him. The center. Frequently if I touch him and ask “what’s this?” he look at where I touched to see what’s there that I’m asking about. I tried reaching around him to be cleared and he tried to see what was on his back. But my efforts finally paid off. I’ve been bugging him with this for the last week or so and this morning he finally came up with an answer. He’s a “brother”, which is the same word he uses for Corwin.