Yellow

Austin is wonderful at meeting someone and remembering their name. He amazes me! He does this little trick that I guess he learned on his mission. He has tried to explain it to me and it makes no sense at all. When we first began dating he met a room full of my extended relatives. I’m talking 2nd cousins, my dad’s aunts and uncles and so forth; family I have a hard time keeping straight. By the end of the day he had remembered every single one of their names. He even helps me out on occasion. He can still list patients he has treated years ago, and even what they were treated for. It’s a little gift that he is quite proud of.

Dax has a lot of Austin's qualities, but in this case, remembering names is not one of them. Not even a little bit, not even close. He has a wonderful memory. He can easily remember things from months ago. But names? That’s a whole other story. He can play at a friend’s house weekly and not know his name. “That’s Colby.” He gets cousins confused all the time. “No, her name isn’t Cole. It’s Kobi.” He can’t even keep boy names and girls names straight. Everyone is always "that boy" or "that girl". I am always correcting him. He has never once known the name of his Nursery teachers at Church or any of the other names of the kids in his class. It know. It’s pretty horrible.

Up until now I just shrugged it off and passed it off as an age thing. Maybe even a boy thing. But definitely nothing to worry about.

Until last night when I realized just how horrible of a situation we have. I was putting Dax to bed and we had a strange little conversation. It went like this:

Dax: “Yesterday I was running with Yellow.”

It was more of a statement than a question.

Me: “Hmmmmm.”

I had no clue what he is talking about, which is often the case and I have to play detective and prob for more information.

Me: “Yellow what?”

Dax repeats himself, but adds just a pinch more help.

Dax: “Yesterday I was running with Yellow at the park”.

Yesterday in this case means earlier in the day because we had been playing at the park. I just couldn’t figure out what Yellow was. Was there a dog I missed? Was he talking about the yellow shovel we brought or the Yellow Tonka truck?

Me: “Were you running with a yellow shovel?”

I could tell he was thinking so hard. And then he tried again.

Dax: “Yesterday I run with Yellow and I tagged him”

Now I was starting to get it.

Me: “Oh, you mean the boy who was wearing yellow?" I vaguely remember the friend he was playing with was in a yellow t-shirt. "You were running at the park with the boy in the yellow shirt?”

Dax: “Yes. What that called?” (Isn't that such a nice way to ask what his name is?)

Me: “The boy in the yellow shirt name’s Bradley.”

When I said his name Dax smiled. I could tell he was happy with my answer and content to go to sleep.

Dax: “Oh, Bradley, not Yellow.”

Yikes! I might have a serious problem on my hands. Apparently, if my son calls you a noun, some person, place, or thing, a letter, a color, or doesn't know your name at all, don’t be offended. You probably made quite a nice impression on him. He just has a horrible memory.