Abstract
Of the many wonderful and sometimes difficult lessons God is giving me through my not-so-little year-and-a-half old son, Joel, a strategic one has come through my efforts to understand his early attempts at speaking. His facial expression, intonation, and gestures offer helpful clues in many cases, but at times I'm utterly baffled by his earnest requests for "ishee" and his emphatic declarations on "puck!" (which I now know means "cup") or "pay-play!" (possibly his word for "airplane"?).