Toddler Talk
I’m fairly certain it happens to every parent eventually. As your toddler’s command of the English language increases, so does the chance of them embarrassing you in public. Navigating the public domain with a highly verbal 2 year old leaves you open to all sorts of humiliation. You never know when your toddler may (loudly) mistake a bearded man for Santa (or Jesus), or wait until the quietest point of the church service to announce their urgent need to go to the washroom. And speaking of washrooms...heaven forbid you find yourself in a stall with the same verbal two year old. Don’t even think of using the facilities unless you are open to giving any other restroom patrons a play by play of what you are up to in there.
Then at a certain point they begin to notice that people come in all different shapes, sizes and colours...and are constrained to point it out (again – loudly). You walk innocently into the grocery store past an unsuspecting gentleman standing outside with his dog, and your daughter squeals, “look at that cute puppy, Mommy!..and that cute man!!” It’s hard not to blush as you try to inconspicuously flash your wedding ring to assure the same gentleman that you are simply shopping for brussel sprouts today...not a husband.
My sister and I once took our girls shopping. At the time my daughter was just starting to talk, but my niece was a smarty pants two year old with a great command of the English language. We were pushing them in a cart through a large and busy warehouse type store when my sister and I spotted some items on a table we wanted to look at. We left the cart (momentarily!) in the larger aisle where there was room, and meandered over to take a look...only to hear my niece call out in her loud 2 year old voice, “Somebody HELP us!!” My sister and I bolted back to the cart amidst the whispers and suspicious looks of shoppers around us, and tried our best to look like attentive and responsible mothers rather than kidnappers who had stolen two little girls and taken them on a random shopping trip.
The other day my daughter announced (do I need to qualify that it was loudly?) in the middle of a restaurant that she had to go to the bathroom. It was a long and involved process to remove her from her chair and negotiate the crowded restaurant to find our way to the restrooms; stopping to smile and nod at the friendly patrons who paused their dinner conversation to ooh and ahh over the cute little girl passing by. The trip must have exhausted her attention span, because as I turned to her in the bathroom after locking the door, she looked at me with her shoulders shrugged, and asked, “So...what are we doing here?”
I hardly remembered myself!
I could go on and on regaling you with stories of how my little girl has put me in my place and I have WISHED she wasn’t so verbal...or how she has made me laugh hysterically with the funny things she has said! You likely have plenty of your own stories, too. There is nothing quite like a verbal two year old to keep you humble...and healthy. For if laughter is the best medicine, then keeping a two year old around will surely guarantee good health.
Now if only they didn’t grow up so fast and become sassy 4 year olds!
Then at a certain point they begin to notice that people come in all different shapes, sizes and colours...and are constrained to point it out (again – loudly). You walk innocently into the grocery store past an unsuspecting gentleman standing outside with his dog, and your daughter squeals, “look at that cute puppy, Mommy!..and that cute man!!” It’s hard not to blush as you try to inconspicuously flash your wedding ring to assure the same gentleman that you are simply shopping for brussel sprouts today...not a husband.
My sister and I once took our girls shopping. At the time my daughter was just starting to talk, but my niece was a smarty pants two year old with a great command of the English language. We were pushing them in a cart through a large and busy warehouse type store when my sister and I spotted some items on a table we wanted to look at. We left the cart (momentarily!) in the larger aisle where there was room, and meandered over to take a look...only to hear my niece call out in her loud 2 year old voice, “Somebody HELP us!!” My sister and I bolted back to the cart amidst the whispers and suspicious looks of shoppers around us, and tried our best to look like attentive and responsible mothers rather than kidnappers who had stolen two little girls and taken them on a random shopping trip.
The other day my daughter announced (do I need to qualify that it was loudly?) in the middle of a restaurant that she had to go to the bathroom. It was a long and involved process to remove her from her chair and negotiate the crowded restaurant to find our way to the restrooms; stopping to smile and nod at the friendly patrons who paused their dinner conversation to ooh and ahh over the cute little girl passing by. The trip must have exhausted her attention span, because as I turned to her in the bathroom after locking the door, she looked at me with her shoulders shrugged, and asked, “So...what are we doing here?”
I hardly remembered myself!
I could go on and on regaling you with stories of how my little girl has put me in my place and I have WISHED she wasn’t so verbal...or how she has made me laugh hysterically with the funny things she has said! You likely have plenty of your own stories, too. There is nothing quite like a verbal two year old to keep you humble...and healthy. For if laughter is the best medicine, then keeping a two year old around will surely guarantee good health.
Now if only they didn’t grow up so fast and become sassy 4 year olds!
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Bless you ~