Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Houston, we have contact

In addition to pique over my colleague's pregnancy and some amount of sadness over my lack of one, we do have two exciting positive developments in casa Irrational: full on running has commenced. As has constant talking. Constant, effective talking, no less.

This morning, I was awakened by "up. Up. UP. UPUPUP. BABA. BABA." and when I stumbled in to B's room, baba in hand (yeah, don't ask about breaking up with the bottle), I was greeted with "Hi. Mommy."

Then later there was "book" "shoe" and "out" (that's "let's go outside for our walk already") and "cracker" about 100 times until someone got a bunny cracker.

I feel like the crazy "my child is talking even though no one can understand him" mom, but, really, I don't think I am making this up. Really. Even my husband agrees he is actually talking, and since he usually is the one who accuses me of making sh*t up, I am actually convinced that I am not just "that mom" and that we really do have communication.

What's awesome is that it makes it so much easier to avoid frustration and (newly-arrived and not very welcome, thank you very much) tantrums. Because when he gets frustrated or whiney, we either try to lead him with a word that might be what he wants, or tell him he can ask for things by saying "help please" instead of yelling or whining. And you know what? That works! (It comes out like "hep peas" and is beyond adorable.) It doesn't keep him from getting upset when I take something away that he wants (i.e., the plug to his humidifier, which is clearly more fascinating than his room full of toys) but I think it has already cut down the frustration by more than half.

And for me? Now it's like having a real person in the room. One that knows that he should say "eat" or "apple" when he's hungry and "cup" when he wants something to drink. And it's remarkable to see what he picks up every day. The pace of change is just astounding.

I think because the walking and the talking have both really kicked in at the same time, and because he is just so big (he wears size 2T already) I feel like we have a real toddler in our house. Of course, I am now totally nostalgic for the tiny baby with his little fists and snuffly noises, but this new phase is amazing to watch and it could not be more fun.

9 comments:

  1. Oh my God, that is so amazing! I don't think you could have a more avid and enthralled audience for this post than myself, mother to a willful toddler who screeches repeatedly at me, hundreds of times a day, fraying both of our nerves with her unmet (albeit capricious) wants.

    I can't wait for this to happen to us! Penelope's vocabulary consists of "doo-buh" (= blue). Not very helpful!

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  2. we are only at the "aadababababababa" stage. which R, of course, thinks it is P saying "dada" repeatedly. not so much ... i will be the true judge this weekend :o) jk. i totally believe you! xoxo.

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  3. That was one of my favorite ages. LG's first sentence was "Park. Walk. Bye Bye" and then she took off down the sidewalk without me!

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  4. Isn't it sooo amazing? He's a real person in there, ya know? With wants and desires, and now he can tell you. It is amazing.

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  5. My son is about 3 months older than yours, and I agree that they can definitely communicate at that age! You may be able to understand more of what he's saying than anyone else, but that doesn't mean he's not doing it!

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  6. Must be fun watching the changes you see now when you look back knowing how small he used to be.

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  7. TALKING! OH mah goodness. "Hep peas!" Oh, so sweet. It must be just amazing. Everyone says it just keeps getting better, but at the same time, it's impossible not to be nostalgic. Just gotta savor the moment, I guess.

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  8. Thanks for commenting on my blog, so I was able to discover yours as well!
    This sounds like such a fun age - I guess I'm just a few months behind you and have a lot to look forward to. I can't imagine the J-dog talking, though he sure does have a lot to "say" anyway.
    I'm sorry to read about your recent IVF disappointment. I can't imagine being back on that path - I'm sure it brings back a lot of pain. But it sounds like B. is doing a good job of keeping you busy in the mean time.

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  9. I love it! Running AND talking! Mads can run but the talking consists of just "moe" and "baboo" (i.e., more and balloon). "More" means everything from "mama, I'd like more of that yummy food you just gave me" to "pick me up" to "I want that random thing all the way across the room that you will have to figure out by touching everything until I stop shaking my head "no" and say "mo!" with even more enthusiasm".

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