I Want to Talk

Lauren is starting to talk more and more. Her words are short, simple and to the point. Nack (read: snack) for when she wants food. Pon (tampon) is coupled with the action of handing me a tampon from its carton in the bathroom (my children love to help with everything). Ami (salami) might just be her favorite food (not to be confused with Mommy - you have to have a good ear to hear the difference). And tine made it into her vocabulary with the gift of Valentine soaps to Kelan from his preschool teacher. Sometimes she is very polite (peas) with her requests, she has even been known to say me me (excuse me) when she burps/farts (or when Dan does). Other times she is VERY demanding. She often couples her words with a hand gesture of pointing at the thing she wants (over and over again).

We have moved from the guessing game with Lauren's needs and wants to the translation game. Although she does have some words down like the word no. In fact it was her first word. She learned it from Kelan. Lovely. Mine is pretty popular as well. Again, perfectly pronounced.

Kelan is another story. He just talks all the time. There is hardly a quiet moment - ever. On my bad days, sometimes I ask him to stop talking for 1 minute. This simple request is usually met with him whining, I want to talk. He has actually said, I want to talk - to talk. How very true.

With all this talking, it must be said that there is no listening. It is a one way street with my children. Lauren (I think) is pretending that she does not hear me (giggling while she does exactly what I have asked her not to do), while I seriously believe that Kelan is deaf. My comments, questions and requests are met with HUH?!?! I (ignorantly) repeat myself and am met with HUH?!??!?!? Deep breath. I try again, and before I even finish my words, HUH?!?!?! Now I am thinking - I want to talk.

Dan says a work colleague does the same thing - he ignores him (because truth be told, his colleague has heard him, it is just his knee jerk response). I try this approach with Kelan, but then I am bombarded with what'd you say? MOM! What you'd say? It is a no win situation. I finally started asking Kelan what he thinks I said. He knows - he repeats what I have said - then he asks again, what'd you say? This happens all day long. Hopefully it is just a phase that he will grow out of soon.

It is clear that my children will never be at a loss for words - they are my children after all. I guess I must look ahead to their futures and realize that they will speak up for themselves (and hopefully others). They will have a voice. They want to talk - I will raise them with something to say.