Yo Maaam.

I think my daughter is brilliant. Like any mom I'm constantly amazed at how quickly she learns things, what she picks up vs what she doesn't. I love this process of watching and helping a person grow and learn. With that comes the comparison game. When I was pregnant with First Born, I knew at least 17 other couples (honestly not exaggerating) that were expecting as well. So I have plenty of kids her age to compare her to.
And as far as talking goes, I think she's way off course. She actually left the path and meandered into Wonderland where nothing makes sense.
Our doctor is not concerned. He always gives me a patient, maybe even playful grin and says: "It's not your job to compare her to the kids you know. It's my job to compare her to the entire population of kids her age. And she's fine."
Sigh. Yes. Thank you, Doc.
I've had to examine why I'm bothered. Am I truly concerned about her development? Not really. The child can recognize a handful of letters and pronounce them clearly.
She is starting to know her colors. Blue is her favorite so far.
She shares well in the twos class. (This coming from her teacher who just happens to be her grandmother...we will just take her word for it and not question.)
She runs. She laughs. She teases us. She tickles us.
So why am I bothered?
I'm afraid other moms will think I don't work with her enough. Or that I'm not doing things right. It's like her lack of talking is speaking volumes about what we do with our time at home.
If I look real close, I'm embarrassed about what my child is not doing instead of fully enjoying - and being proud of - what she is. And it has to stop. I refuse to be a mom that always expects more instead of loving who my children are.
That being said, I have to share the cuteness of what my daughter does say:
She counts to 3 when she wants to be picked up. But she skips the 1 (we usually say it). She reaches up her hands and says:... two...fweee..."
Lately she changed 3 to 9. Long story. Toy Story inspired. So now it's "Two! Nine!"
I think she has a bit of a lisp and I love it. She says "th" for "s". So please is:
"Thhhhh" It took a while to catch this one. She has started to add the "P' so every once in a while it's "Peathhh".
She calls everywhere outside of our house "Home". She grabs shoes (shoes, cheese and juice sound very similar - I have to pay close attention!) and says :"Home?"
She loves to suggest something, then nod in excitement immediately as if to cunningly force you to agree.
"Bu? (Buzz) Dee? (Woody) Uh-huh!!!!" Huge excited face...brilliant child. It is crushing to watch her excited face fall when I say no.
She will ask for something and when I don't understand and ask her what she would like she pauses, puts her finger on her chin and says: "Hmmmmm".
Other words:
Moe (More)
Woom (Room)
Me (Cat)
Baby or DoeDar (Little sis)
Eat
Sit (this one causes my heart to jump sometimes. I'll let your imaginations take you there)
Boppa (Grandpa)
Ma (Grandma - only she usually just nods for Grandma if I ask her to say it)
Baoon (Balloon)
George
Minnie
Ming Ming
(We are watching too many cartoons around here - another post about that soon)
Yay!!!
She has more words, but I won't bore you. She is throwing a few short sentences together. "Mommy more juice."
Or when I'm sneaking a cuddle with my hubby: "No, Mommy, my Daddy." Nice.
And lately? She calls me Mom. Only she sounds like she's from Boston.
Maaaaaam.
I missed Mommy for a bit, but how can I when she sounds so funny with her little accent?
I say: "Here you go" to her quite often, so she says: yo (here you go).
Numerous times a day while we're playing she says:
Yo, Maaam.
I love this child.
P.S. just to show how great she is at sharing...