Thursday, July 9, 2009

25.73 Month Checkup

Dear Katie,

It seems like only yesterday I couldn't wait for you to start talking.

In actual fact, yesterday I was silently wishing you would shut up for just a stinking minute! Holy non-stop chatter. Sometime between your second birthday and today you started talking in complete sentences. Not all the time, of course. You don't even use words found in the English language all of the time. I'm pretty sure you are bilingual, just not sure what the other language is. For posterity' sake, I wish to record that your first full sentence was "I want tickle Daddy". Gag me with a spoon, but how adorable is that?

I've started to wonder if language development is some part genetic. There are some weird similarities between you and the me I've heard of in stories from my parents.

The moral here is; Turnabout is fair play. Or in the words of my father; "The cosmos is in balance".

Apparently I used to inundate my mother with, "Hi Mom, do-din?" (meaning Hi Mom, what are you doing?") I would ask it repeatedly and without regard to answers given. You have your own broken record. The kittens, which you have quite aptly named "Brown One" and "Black One", are still at our house. Now whenever you are sitting in your highchair and can't see the cats you ask, "Oh Brown One doon?", "Oh Black One doon?". Over and over and over. And over and over and over.
Here is an excerpt from last night's dinner conversation:

"So dear, how was your da--?"
"Oh Brown One doon?"
"Oh Black One doon?"
"Oh Brown One doon?"
"Oh Black One doon?"
"Oh Brown One doon?"
"Oh Black One doon?"


And this 'oh' thing... It replaces all question words. So, "where is the car?" becomes "Oh the car gone?" And "What is that?" becomes "Oh that is?" I used to do that too. (I think...right mom?)

"I yike dat" versus " I yike dat"
One is in the affirmative and one in the negative. Visual cues are required to distinguish. (My dad will still scrunch up his nose and declare, "I yike dat" from time to time. A throwback to my childhood days). Seems strange to me that you do it too. No, not strange... difficult. How many times a day I have to look at you and say, "wait... you do or you don't like it?" And then you answer me, "yes".

For the last two days you have been going around asking, "Oh zat comes?" I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE ASKING ME. It seems to be a catchall question, appropriate in every situation. Its making me crazy.

But, by far these days, your favorite words are "No" and "Doan wan-tut" as in don't want a nap, don't want school, don't want dinner, don't want...don't want...don't want.

And you lie. All the time. For example, I am sitting here catching a whiff of something specific and distinct after watching you walk over to the corner of the room and grunt a few times and so I ask you, "Katie, did you poo-poo?"

"Nope. Doan wan tut."

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh that all sounds sooooo like Esme. When we ask her what Mummy says, Esme's reply is NO NO NO NO NO. That sounds about right!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh Malinda, this one took me back to your childhood days! It seems as though Katie sounds very much like you. We visited you when you were just beginning to talk. When we left, you repeatedly asked your mother, "Oh Mimel doe? Oh Caca doe?"

Jess