“This is My Friend, Ali” #imyourmom

One of my favorite things about toddlerhood is the speed at which they start to speak and communicate with you. Not only is it refreshing to have communication that involves words instead of screaming and wondering why my kid is crying, but they say some of the cutest darn things. And creepy. Some of the creepiest things I have ever heard. S will always tell you her stories and if there is a problem, the Paw Patrol is always the answer. 

B is super verbal. He listens to chatty lady S all day, so he started talking way earlier than I expected. He picks up phrases from her and practices and uses them often. His current favorite is “Almost”. Here is a typical conversation with B: 

Me: “B, did you poop?” B: “No, mama. Almost.” (It clearly smells like a port-o-potty is in his pants. 

Me: “B, what do you want for breakfast?” B: “Delicious juice and Sadie.” I hope he always remembers how much he idolizes her. 

S is a much more entertaining thing. She has an imagination like no other and the means to communicate some of the silliness in the sweetest way. It makes me so excited for when all of the creative juices are really able to be verbalized by B. She has a sharp memory and relays a lot of information to me though it takes using context clues often. 

Yesterday, I bribed S with a trip to the grocery store alone with me if she napped. (we spent 3 days destroying our room, peeling off nail polish, and harassing the dog during nap/”quiet time”.) By 4pm, she is a bear and you can feel the tension in the house. Hubs is home afternoons now, and he gets to experience no nap firsthand, I thought the first day he was going to go back to his work and beg for overtime.  

We got to the grocery store after she napped and she was a joy. A pure, sweet, well behaved joy. A woman commented at one point that she couldn’t believe how well behaved S was while shopping. She was helping, being sweet, and just a model toddler. When we got to the checkout, the checker asked S what her name was while I finished unloading the groceries onto the belt. She told the woman her name, and as I walked up, she said: “This is my friend, Ali”. I about died and so did the cashier. I said “Im your mama, right, S?” and she said “Yeah. Mama. Ali. And she has a BIG baby in her belly.” Well, there it is. My life story as told by my 3 year old. I can’t wait for the day she tells someone that I am her roommate. 

Speaking of the baby in my belly, S has been super into this baby. She was super young when I had B so I don’t think she remembers any of it. We talk about it every day. And she reminds me that it is a girl that will be sleeping in her room. I hope she doesn’t freak out too badly if this baby is a boy. She also has a name picked out that also happens to belong to one of our dear friends daughters, so that will be a disappointment when the baby cannot be named after her 4 month old friend. The other day, she told hubs and my mom that AND I QUOTE “I have two babies in my belly that I will make into dog food.” SO. Freaking. Weird. Not sure where that came from, but I think she jumbled her chore of feeding the dogs with her Barbie dogs that she got for her birthday, One of the dogs takes craps that you pick up (thanks, C and M) and the other gives birth to puppies when you press on its back (thanks K, B and B). Side note: If only that was how babies made their entrance. There will be mass confusion when my kids learn about childbirth. Thanks, Matel. 

By far my favorite thing that my toddlers say is actually to each other. (besides when S asks B DAILY if he wants to come with her while she poops. He always agrees and goes) I will remind them of this when they are 13 and annoying each other. They say “I love you” along with each others names a few times a day without prompting. I melt a little every time. Sometimes I wonder if they know I’m about to lose my sh*t and say it to bring me back to earth. Either way, I know they mean it. 

Here are a few things I know about my sweet toddlers and how I try and nurture communication: 

-Toddlers have a beautiful mind. Though jumbled at times, they paint a beautiful picture of what they gather from life. 

-Talk to them in conversation. The more I do this, the better their communication gets. I annoy everyone at the grocery store with how much I chat about everything with them, but I can see their sponge minds just bursting with new things there. 

-They hear EVERYTHING. And repeat it when necessary. I try super hard to not talk ABOUT them in front of them. They need to be a part of the conversation no matter how crazy they are driving me!

-Talk to them at their level. Get on the floor and roll around with them while they chat about the day and tell you all about the paw patrol and preschool. 

-If you don’t want to talk about said Paw Patrol all day, then… oh wait. Can anyone help me with this? Chase is on every case in our house. #drivingmenuts