Conversations

Prior to having my own beautiful boys I never really paid much attention to the development of language and verbal skills. Now, it's quite fun watching little kids discover this part of the world. Alex didn't really say anything until about 19 months. He would do animal sounds before that and occasionally he would say ball or trash. Then it all came flooding out. By 22 months he was putting words together into simple sentences. By the time he was 2 he was telling you his life story. He talks ALL the time about everything. His latest mission is to teach Ben to say "Alex".

Friday was a very bad day for Alex, nothing made him happy. We were having a houseful of company for dinner. In the frenzy of trying to calm all of the little Alex meltdowns, I was making no headway in getting the house clean and do the prep work for dinner A friend (with a brand new baby) wanted to take us out to lunch. With 4 kids in the mix, we scheduled a time that worked for everyone, it just happened to fall on this very bad Friday. So everything got put on hold and I grumpily got the kids in the car to head to lunch. I was very happy to get lunch, but at the time I was wishing I could have left the kids at home this particular day!

So in my crummy mood, the boys actually decide to behave in the car. Ben is babbling, lots of da-da-da sounds coming out. Alex tells Ben "No, my name is Alex. Say Al-ex." I kid you not, the next sound was Ben saying his not quite right version of Alex. Thus began the first real conversation between Alex & Ben. Alex got Ben to say "Alex" a couple more times, and then launched into a diatribe about the macaroni and cheese that they would be having for lunch. Ben would respond at the right time with whatever sounds he deemed appropriate.

It was so sweet and helped a little to get me out of my funk. Lunch went well, the boys did great and by the time I got home everyone was really happy. Our little dinner party went off without a hitch and fortunately for me, my day ended on a much happier plane than where it began.