Conversations with a Toddler

We waited, ears straining, to hear that first word: "Meow." And then came "dadadada." For months, I was dadadada. Finally, finally, there it was: "mama." And now, it's "MomMY!"

And we have conversations. Lots of them. R.J. is what we call a talker. A conversationalist. An extrovert extreme. I think he may be president.

First thing in the morning, he greets me with, "You sleep well?" "I sleep well too!"

In the grocery store, he greets his fellow shoppers: "Hi, I'm Wyan James. I have cool shoes. (or in the alternative, "I have juice.")."

At our new church (where I am still introducing myself), after a battle over his dress shoes, he tells a church elder's wife, "My shoes too tight. They too small fo' me."

Sometimes, he'll coyly bury his face in my leg and tell his new friends with a grin, "I bein' shy." Clearly, he's terrified.

At supper (and throughout the day...over and over and over....): "How was your day been?" "You go to work?" "You gonna see Will and Judy?" "You gonna say, "Hiiiiiii Judy!'"

R.J. loves my co-workers. Last week, he told me, "Will knows how to read." This morning, when I told R.J. he could read a book to himself, he cried and said, "But mommy, I don't know words!" Note to self: need to start teaching the toddler to read.

When he sees something he recognizes, he tells me, "I saw that last morning!" (Translation--because I am his employed translator--"I saw that yesterday!").

When I told him we would get to see grandma in four sleeps, he bargained: "I have idea!" "Whyyyyyy not, two sleeps?!" (Litigator perhaps?).

My favorite these days is when I point my finger at R.J., and he returns the point with "I love you!"

Lately, he's been asking to see my baby bump. Or more personal than that, he stands outside the shower door and narrates for me.  I hear my shower story every morning: "You gonna wash yo' hair? And yo' boom boom?"

So far, he keeps his stories at home for the most part. And I am grateful. I am once again waiting to hear those first words--this time stories--there is no doubt in my mind that he will someday tell the cashier at Crest that mommy washes her boom-boom and num-nums in the shower. (Toddlers who were nursed have a spectacular vocabulary with which to humiliate mommies).  I hope that will be the worst of it. I am sure I am wrong.