Toddler Speak

Sour Patch Kids

As our children get older, it’s interesting to hear them talk more. It goes from learning words, to sentences, to actual random thoughts in their mind. And that’s where things get interesting. I start to hear about dreams they have about a mama dinosaur that their brother is afraid of but it’s really just “a nice dinosaur because it’s nice.”

I’ve also learned you really can’t take anything personal with kids. I was prepared for them to tell me they hated me, because I think that’s a normal part of growing up. That doesn’t phase me. Even saying that I’m the meanest mama ever and that I never let them do anything doesn’t phase me. (Sometimes they’re right!). It’s the specific ones that I think about days or weeks later. The ones that come out of no where.

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Echoes

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Baby F is less newborn infant, and more baby lately. It means she’s awake for longer stretches of time, and starting to pay attention to us. She loves when we talk to her and gets all excited and tries to copy us. Her mouth moves like crazy and her eyes get wide and when she finally gets a noise out, you can tell she’s absolutely thrilled with herself. So lately I spend a lot of time staring into her eyes and saying “Alpo” over and over to her as she watches intently and tries speak. I understand that sounds odd, but stay with me for a minute.

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Bits and Pieces

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Just a quick update of some random phrases that have been said recently and I want to remember.

  • Recently I was playing with E and his Legos, when I noticed one of the little Lego dogs was in the car he was driving around. “Is that dog driving a car?! Dogs can’t drive!” I told him. Except he had a great comeback and told me, “It’s okay, she’s 16, so she can!”

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Out of the Mouths of Toddlers

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The older E gets, the more interesting it is to talk to him. It’s gone from demands to short sentences to stories. Sometimes they’re true, sometimes they’re completely made up, and sometimes I’m left confused wondering.

E: Mama look at my boo boo
Me: Oh no!
E: I told it to my teachers yesterday
Me: Oh yeah? And what did they say?
E: The scooped me up and threw me in the trash!
Me: How did that make you feel?

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Scatterbrained

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This year has really been an experiment in the minimal amount of brain power required to still function as an adult. Something about this pandemic and repetitive home monotony has turned my brain to mush. Add in all the insane things happening in the world, and my brain just wants to shut down, instead of think of the consequences of an attempted coup.

So of course it’s super fun to add in pregnancy brain, plus nausea medication that includes a time released sleeping pill that keeps me in a never ending fog.

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Toddler Speak

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Our littlest toddler talks, quite a bit actually. You might not know this, because I haven’t posted recent videos, but he often speaks in full sentences now. He’s long had a large vocabulary of words, but now he’s starting to put them together more and more.

A recent favorite is to ask for us to put music on, and then ask the name of ever song that comes on. “What this song? What this song?” Over and over. Even if you just told him. And then he’ll ask the other adult in the room to confirm he gets the same answer. If you’re lucky, he’ll start dancing to it. He’s been unanimously named the best dancer of the house. When he feels a song, boy can he move!

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Toddler Speak

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I’m not sure why, but G seems so much older at this age than his brother did. Sure he’s bigger, but I also think his vocabulary is huge. He’s definitely speaking way more than E ever was at this age, and I think more than most kids his age. However, he’s still very much speaking as a toddler. In other words, every time he opens his mouth, it’s the best thing ever.

Every morning, he comes into my “offie” to say good morning and play with whatever he can get his hands on. He’ll often try to convince me to let him play with whatevers on my desk, by holding out his hands and asking me if he can hold it. “Hone? Hone?” If he’s rewarded with something, he’ll clutch it in his arms and ask “myes?” to confirm that it is his.

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Flying Creatures

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Something I didn’t quite understand about young children before I had them – it takes them a while to learn how to speak. And it’s not just vocabulary building, it’s pronunciation, but I’m not talking about the cute way they say spaghetti. There’s this whole period of time where they’re screaming the same word over and over at you while you play some desperate charades game of trying to figure out what they’re telling you.

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Tiny Toddler Update

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Our littlest toddler is the best.

You couldn’t ask for a better quarantine buddy. Well you could, because he’s also an angry little tyrant who demands food constantly and runs away when you try and change his diaper, but he’s the best mood booster. Recently I taught him how to give hugs, and it’s the best thing ever. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long. But now I’ll tell him to give me a hug and he’ll grab one of my shoulders in each hand and squeeze them as hard as he can while grunting. Seriously, who couldn’t use a hug like that?

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Just a Bunch of Monkeys

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Now that I have two little children, I feel like I’m finally understanding all of my friends that grew up with siblings close in age, and who are used to fighting about things being equal. My boss tells stories of his siblings and him fighting all out wars to reach the kitchen every night before bed, in order to have first pick at their evening drink of juice (even though his mom had painstakingly poured them all equally). Or I understand why my two older sisters had so many duplicate toys – buy one for one of them, and you better buy one for the other.

I haven’t exactly reached the stage where I believe everything needs to be equal, but I’ve at least witnessed the jealousy, and I understand it now.

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Blah Blah Blah Day 21

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I have had the worst stomach ache of anxiety all week. Tied up in knots, can’t relax, in constant panic mode. There’s no reason for it, well besides the global crisis we’re all facing, but that’s not new. Nothing’s changed this week, I’ve actually mostly stopped watching/reading the news even. My body has just decided that we’re stressed out this week and should panic.

So with that being my mindset, despite the fact I feel like I should be much more comfortable right now, I’m going to give a very cute, baby-centric update. Because that’s more fun to talk about.

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Where We Are

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I remember when I used to pray for 30 seconds. 30 seconds where I could slip away, unnoticed, and change out of my work clothes. It would never come – I’d either end up carrying two deceptively heavy children with me, or I’d listen to their panicked screams from down the hall where I’d left them, while I quickly changed my clothes.

Last night, though, it happened. I left them playing in their rooms, and slipped down the hall to change. When I got back, they were still laughing and playing, and hadn’t noticed I’d left. It wasn’t until I was putting E to bed that he realized my shirt had changed, and asked me about it. He likes to play with the buttons on my work shirt, and I wasn’t wearing it anymore.

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I Told You

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Sometimes I forget.

Until I catch someone looking at me, or I walk by a mirror. And then I remember, oh yes… I’m the adult wearing a Sesame Street shirt. Because it makes my toddler super happy. “My matching you!” he’ll say with a big smile on his face. Right now I’m the coolest person he knows, and I want to hold on to that feeling for as long as I can.

His new chant is “Mama FOREVER!!” which is mostly cute, but it occasionally morphs to “Mama RIGHT NOW forever” with the “right now” coming out as a demand, and the “forever” more a cry, and always happens when he wants me and needs to wait because I’m driving or busy or not there.

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A Toddler Update

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Let’s do a toddler update, shall we? Toddlers are a ball of distraction and energy, two things we could use right now. Also, does anyone know what comes after “toddler?” Since the baby is quickly claiming that title, I need a new stage for E. He tells me that he’s a big boy, and that I’m a super big boy, but I’m not sure that feels right… preschooler? Elder toddler?

E’s a little introvert who cares deeply for his family and friends. He recently told me that his friends make him happy in his belly. When baby G is crying, E likes to bring him a pacifier and give him a hug. He also likes to tell me “Baby likes me” which I’m pretty sure is true. He also requires lots of downtime (or space as he calls it) after big events and outings.

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Toddler Speak

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I love all the weird sayings and phrases that toddlers come up with. I never correct them, and I always mourn when they disappear. When there’s a loud noise, E used to say “Oh so noise!” but now he says “I herr-d that!” Both are cute, but I miss his ‘so noise’ that he used to say. Just like he didn’t know the word for crayons, so he used to call them colors. The other day he told me he wanted to color with crayons. I’m thrilled he’s learning, but it’s a little sad to let go. No longer do I get the “Um-me!!” when he’s hungry. Now I get “want snacks!”