Then I had her.
And I found out that so much of motherhood feels very instinctual and natural to me. When your love for your child combines with basic common sense, there aren't too many hurdles that are insurmountable.
One of the current hurdles we are facing has to do with our communication skills. Adam and I do pretty well. It's with Audrey that there is some confusion. Namely, toddler speak. It's the language toddlers speak right before they can actually speak English (or their native tongue, whatever that may be - in our house it's definitely English). You know you've heard this language before - if you haven't been around very many young kids you hear this language and you think, "What interesting sounds that kid can make" until that kid's parent responds with "No, we're not going to go the park until after lunch." And you wonder how that parent got that the kid wanted to go to a park when all you heard were funny sounds, none of which even remotely sounded like park. I remember thinking those same things with my nieces and nephews - and I remember being worried that I wouldn't understand my own children. But surprisingly, I do pretty well. Audrey is repeating everything we say these days and her vocabulary is expanding at a tremendous rate. And I've turned into one of those moms that is able to have a conversation in two languages: English and toddler speak. I'm bilingual. Go figure!
Well, lately there's been a little confusion. See, Audrey calls me Mama or Mommy (depending on her emotional state). Then there's Adam's mom who we refer to as "Grammy" - in toddler speak this sounds more like Mimi. My mom is grandma which sounds like MAma with the emphasis on the first Ma instead of the second. So, sometimes it's difficult to decipher who she is talking about - is it MaMA, Mimi, Mommy or MAma? You see how that might get tangled? Now, there's another "person" that Audrey wants to see a lot of and in toddler speak it sounds like "Mermy". Any guesses as to who this might be?
I won't leave you hanging....
When Audrey says "Mermy" she wants to see... The Little Mermaid.
And this is the smile I get when she "asks" to see her and I am able to successfully translate:
She is officially obsessed with The Little Mermaid. She loves the part when Ursula is taking Ariel's voice and Ariel has to sing. Loves the singing part. She has the first few notes down and sings with it. She also really likes "Part of your World". And she loves dancing around during "Under the Sea". But she really just likes all of it. The whole thing. It was pretty cute. After seeing it for the third time today, I can safely say that I may be getting sick of it. I try running interference with other activities, but it doesn't last long before Audrey is insisting on "Mermy.... Mermy.... Mermy... Mermy.. MERMY, MERMY, MERMY!
MOMMY, MERMY!
And then, inevitably it seems, I fold. And I put it on (again). And then she does this:
...and frankly, with a smile like that and such a charming personality to go with it, I don't think I should be held accountable for my actions. I challenge anyone to respond differently.
The kid just has a way... hopefully I can develop my own "way" before she's a teenager, otherwise we're in trouble!
1 comment:
Oh Mandi! I DO love you! I'm thinking back now to when Jess and Anna were this young. Jesse was the original jabberwalky (he walked and talked and never stopped). He had a pacificer and called it fire---so where's fire? That sort of thing. One night we left him with friends to babysit while Mike and I were out. When we picked him up (he stayed overnight) the next day, Diane said," I'm sorry, but he had a tough night. He kept saying, "fire, fire. We lit candles, matches, a fire in the fireplace, and he just wasn't happy!" I didn't know how to react--on the one hand it was hilarious, and on the other, a total bummer that she and Jon and Jesse had all suffered.
Anna would ask to go out on the seedwalk, or would cry that she'd seen a long-legged daddy.
These are all such treasures to remember. Thanks!
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