Chatting with my Toddler

Sophie in the turkey roaster
Sophie climbed in the turkey roaster after Thanksgiving dinner

Within the last four weeks or so, Sophie has finally, finally, finally really started to talk. Well, not just talk, but communicate. It’s a beautiful thing, and has eased both of our frustration levels. She’ll now mosey up to me and say “Howie? Howie?” which does NOT indicate her love for “Deal or No Deal” but her love for food – she’s saying “hungry.” When I say, “Do you want a banana?” She’ll practically scream “YESSS!” and joyfully run for the kitchen. She even says that word which is most beautiful to a mother’s ear – please.

She also says some things that are not quite as pleasing to the ear. You see, three of the most common phrases I say to Sophie are “No touch”, “No fuss”, and “No ma’am”. And now, she is quite adept at SCREAMING all three of them BACK at me (very accurately, I might add) in anger. Sometimes it is hard not to laugh at her toddler indignation! But I manage to keep a stern face, and demand that she tells me she’s sorry and give me a kiss. The result of that is that she now says “sorry” (or “sowee” as the case may be) when she gives anyone a kiss for any reason. Whoops!

I just love listening to my little chatterbox. Most of her prattling is still mixed with some babble that sounds a lot like Hindi, but there is finally a fair amount of English mixed in! She asks for her favorite TV shows by name (not that she ever watches TV, *ahem*) and gleefully greets each one of Joshua’s Thomas the Tank Engine characters by name. (She loves them almost as much as her brother does.) She has also become a fabulous singer. I have got to get this girl singing on video for you all! Her greatest hits include the Sesame Street and Little Einsteins theme songs (which, again, is weird, since she *cough*never watches TV*cough*), and everything on our Veggie Tales worship songs CD. She really rocks “Come, Now is the Time to Worship” HARD! She’s pretty much my favorite singer ever!

I feel blessed that, including her Hindi chatter, and her fussing, about 90% of what comes out of her little mouth is sweet and adorable. I know it won’t stay that way forever, so I am trying to cherish it now.

What things come out of your little ones’ mouths and melt your heart?

Post to Twitter

13 Replies to “Chatting with my Toddler”

  1. Well nothing from Lil J yet but my neice is babbling da-da, ma-ma and bye bye…it’s precious!

    So us the next American Idol already! LOL!

  2. Nothing yet :). Our little one is 13 1/2 months old, and not a word yet. She babbles a lot, and it seems more purposeful lately, but nothing specific. She says ‘dada’ of course, but we don’t think she knows that it means ‘daddy’ yet – it’s still just a sound for her to make.

    I haven’t been worried about her lack of vocab at all, but it seems like everyone wants me to be worried. What do you guys think – should I be worried?

  3. Are they so fun around 2?? My youngest turned two at the end of November and whenever I ask him to say “Merry Christmas!” He says, “Merry McKiss” – so cute!

  4. My twin girls turned 2 at the end of October and sound very much like Sophie (one in particular – my singer!) I hear one yelling at the other “NO SQUEEMIN” when her sister is mid-tantrum, or “no ma’am!” to her older brother (he’s 4) when he yanks something out of her hand. It is true that you get a true reflection of how you speak to them when they start speaking back! It actually convicts me often. But it is SOOOOO much easier to make it through the day without losing it now that they can communicate their needs to me! My favorite is when they come up to me or their brother and ask for a hug. Melts my heart.

  5. Our dear 2 year old looked at her crying sister today and tried to comfort her by saying, “don cry babbi” – translation “don’t cry Gabbi”. Too sweet for words – communication with her is a glorious thing!!!!!

  6. My daughter is a singer, too. Of course, I knew she would be, music runs in our family, so she was aptly named Melodie. She even sings to the commercials ..I’m not going to pretend my children don’t get the tv as a babysitter on occasion. Don’t all bloggers have to use some videos to entertain their kids?!

  7. Let me know when Miss So-dee-pop’s CD is available on amazon. I’m so going to get it… and she can use a crazyon to autograph it for me!

  8. That is so great! I can’t wait until my little one can tell me what he wants instead of screaming all the time. He is saying something like thank you, that is really cute when you give him something.

  9. My favorite is when Megan (20 mos.) will just randomly look at me and say “hi ma ma” It’s the absolute cutest thing!

  10. Don’t you just love to hear their voices? My Munchkin turned 2 in October and she is constantly talking, sometimes I wish she had an off switch! She loves singing Christmas songs especially Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

    Merry Christmas!

  11. Well, our older two…they just never shut up! 🙂 But, our lil guy (19 mo) has now started to verbalize and he says “owie” (we don’t hit him so not sure why he says this), “hi” and “pease” (please – at least that’s what I’m interpreting this as).

    It is so fun to hear words from them. This time is probably the best time in their little lives. I love it!

    And, that Sophie is a doll baby!!

Comments are closed.