With Guacamole, Mommy

A toddler's speech development is such an amazing thing to witness. I have to admit, I can't remember the first word either of the boys uttered, but I have my favorite phrases and words that they've come up with. Mommy and Daddy were a few of their first words, I know for sure. I really think Dadda was first, but now it seems so long ago.

It was even more fun when they started putting words together to make sentences. It's very obvious to me that they understand way more of what we say than they can repeat back to us for some time. They also pick and choose their favorites to recite back to us and sometimes take me off guard.

The other day I was making guacamole and Cory came up and asked for a chip. As I handed him the chip, he said, "with guacamole, mommy".

The other aspect of speech development that amazes me is how they actually get the context of words. For example, as Cory and I were walking around the outside of the mall to find the car, he wanted to walk up the little concrete drains. The drains have large rocks embedded into the concrete to make it look a little more aesthetic. While holding my hand and climbing up the drain, he sort of slipped. I caught him with my hand hold and he looked up at me and said, "I almost slipped Mommy." How does he know what the word "almost" means? How did he insert it into a sentence that he created himself and made total sense? Amazing!

They also have their own names for things and I find it very endearing. For example, they both call their blankets, "DeeDee". They have some favorite bedtime books, "The Mother Book" is "Are You My Mother?" The "Very Far Book" is "Guess How Much I Love You?"

It's also interesting how they communicate the negative. Instead of saying, "Don't climb up on the table", they'll say "Climb up on the table, no" while shaking their heads no.

Even though they both have developed language mostly at the same time, as I write this post I realize that it's Cory who usually comes up with the words and phrases first. Tyler is vocal and can communicate his wants, but tends to put it in action first. Cory called his blanket DeeDee for awhile before Tyler picked up on that phrase. Maybe he wanted to call it his blanket, but we grabbed onto DeeDee so quickly (because it was so cute!) that Tyler just decided to join us instead of trying to change us.

I love that we can carry on a conversation (sort of) and it's only going to get easier and clearer as time goes on. My favorite part is that I can ask them to have their tantrum in the other room and when they're ready to join us quietly, they can come back. (It works, it really does!!)

P.S. Another night of 8 (count 'em 8!) hours of uninterrupted sleep. I think I am human again.