Castle gone

Not a great photo. My phone camera is rubbish; I was at the beach; Archie was heading off in the opposite direction and the sun was bright (yes really – although it has to be said only momentarily).

This feels like a bit of a first, although I’m not sure why. For once we’d gone to the beach as a family. Louis was trying to fill my bag with stones for his stone collection (don’t ask), Joseph was playing football, Richard was throwing the ball  into the sea for Mad Dog and I was running around after Archie whilst simultaneously trying to persuade Louis that only small stones belong in the stone collection. Anyway, Archie grabbed the talker and said ‘castle gone’. I admit I had absolutely no idea what he meant.  I wondered whether he was talking about Burgh Island hotel, but no, that didn’t seem to fit. He pointed at an empty spot and it dawned on me. Last week at Breaking the Barrier there had been a bouncy castle on the beach. I agreed that yes the bouncy castle had gone. He continued: ‘hamburger cheeseburger hotdog gone’. Yes indeed (last week there had also been a barbeque on the beach, which he’d enjoyed just a little).

It’s definitely a first of some sort. Not a request, not a repetitive phrase. Archie simply wanted to share something that he’d noticed with me. It’s not the first time he’s done that, although I think it’s the first time he’s done that using language I didn’t even know he understood let alone could locate on the talker (‘castle’). And he was very pleased when I understood.