Chatterbox

I went back and reread some of my blogs from 2007 last night . . . I think I was looking for inspiration. I don’t want this blog to be a daily account of what we do. I want it to be more than that . . . what I’m thinking, planning, working on, enjoying, hating, etc. I feel like I may have fallen into a rut of “Today we went to the park . . .” That’s okay from time to time because what we do IS a big part who we are and what I’m thinking about. But I read some old blogs to remind me of the ‘other stuff’ I’d been writing about.

I found a blog in early December 2007 about Meg and her ability to talk. “Wondering” was the title, and I wrote about wondering when Meg was going to bust out with some serious verbal skills. I was a little worried – though I wouldn’t admit it – that my 18 month old was still so quiet.

Here we are, April 2008, and the floodgates have officially opened. Meg is a talker, that is for sure. She’s talking all the time, enjoying her new found use of language, and even strangers understand what she’s saying.



(Okay, so I didn't do a great job editing the video -- but you get the idea!)

She talks a lot. All day – new words flying out all the time. She’ll repeat just about anything you ask her to . . . which is a cute stage that I know will only last so long. She’s funny – sometimes if you say, “Meg, can you say XXXX” she’ll reply with, “Yeah!” but not say the requested word. Like I said, a very cute stage.

Some of my favorites in her vocabulary – sticker, chicken, blueberry, waffle, cheese, milk (I guess we focused on food words!), yellow, work, Mama, whee!, coke, help, Uga, Annie (from Little Einsteins) . . . I could go on and on. Sticker might be at the TOP of the list – it’s just funny the way she says the consonants with such force.

By far, the BEST was when she started calling me ‘Mama’ – it was right after our trip to Charleston, when she was 20 months old. It was worth every minute of that 20 month wait. I love it, and I don’t think hearing it will ever get old. It’s music to this mama’s ears.

She has even reached the ‘broken record’ stage. She will say something to you over and over to make sure you heard her – even if you HAVE acknowledged her. Just the other day, she had her first temper tantrum over Yoplait Yogurt with Diego on the cup . . . and really, I wanted to put tape over her mouth during the whole experience. She saw me pick it up at the grocery store and held it in her lap during our trip. When I took it from her to place it on the scanning belt, I explained to her that it was going into a bag then then into our car and then into our home. (Side note – she gets a little hyped at the store when the cashier/bagger takes her stuff – we’ve been through this before – she thinks they are taking it AWAY from her, but I keep explaining the idea of paying, bagging, and then taking it home.)

Well, as soon as I took it from her and put it on the belt, she started with “Go Go, Go Go, Go Go” . . . her word for Diego . . . over and over . . and over. In the store, in the parking lot (where I got in her face and asked her to STOP), in the car, while I was unloading the groceries . . . UGH. It was exhausting to listen to. She saw me put “Go Go” in the refrigerator, and the meltdown ensued. I’m not a MEAN mom, really – I wasn’t torturing the poor thing – but it was after 5pm, and I’d promised she could have Diego Yogurt AFTER dinner. Well, then came some tears and a whole lot more “Go Go”s. So, she sat in timeout until she was done crying, then we talked about how she could have Diego Yogurt after dinner (again).

This tantrum was brought to you buy the words “Go Go” (which haunt me in my sleep).

Today, my dad brought her a lollipop, and she said ‘candy’ throughout our entire lunch – until she could finally have it on our ride home from the restaurant. Ahhh . . . I see my future before me, and it’s full of a strong-willed child that will beat me down with her use of language.

As you can see in the video, Meg is quite a talker and she’s got quite a personality. She’s just a doll . . . despite her willfulness, we are certainly so lucky to have her in our lives.

No need to worry about her linguistic skills. Something tells me we are on the right track, and Meg will be one of those that doesn’t stop once she really gets started. Next task: two word sentences by the age of two. We’ve got about 2 ½ months to go.