It is amazing how quickly Annabel’s ability to communicate has grown of late. Not only has she started to say “I love you” and “Peace out” ( which you’ve seen for yourself if you watched last Friday’s video), but now she even asks for things using full sentences!
“So I says, Florence, I says…”
Okay. “Full sentences” may be pushing it. In fact, sometimes she sounds a little like someone speaking broken English and it cracks me up. For example she will say stuff like:
“Go outside? Yes?”
And…
“Eat food. Okay. OKAY?”
Annie would probably be offended by this comparison and say, “Broken English? I’ll have you know, sir, that I am a native born English speaker!”
At other times Annie reminds me of an American tourist in a foreign country trying to get by with a phrase book. She will enter a room and say, “Hi! What are you doing?” When I reply with an actual explanation of what I’m doing, she will just stare at me like a deer tourist caught in the headlights and then reply, “Hi! What are you doing?”
While Annie’s saying “What are you doing?” is likely just mimicry of what Heather and I ask each other (a lot, I guess, if Annie has picked up on it), Annie and I DO have actual conversations now, something which is by far the most mind blowing aspect of her new-found chattiness. And our current conversations go a LOT more in depth than this argument we had a few months ago.
This morning, for example, Annie tugged at my knee and said, “Dora? Dora?” Knowing that this meant she wanted strawberry yogurt (it comes in a package with “Dora the Explorer” on the front), I strapped Annie into her high chair and fed her the goods.
I then decided that I could eat too, so I dropped an English Muffin into the toaster. A couple minutes later, after I had pulled out the muffin and buttered it up, Annie said, “More breh? More breh?” (“Breh” is Annie speak for bread.)
I sighed and handed the kid half my breakfast. Little Miss Demanding polished it off, then asked, “Cheese? More Cheese?”
“No,” I replied. “Finish your Dora first.”
Annie picked her cup of yogurt off her high chair, placed it on the table next to her, and said, “All done.”
Surprised/impressed by her pluck, I gave Annie some cheese. As she chomped on it like a little mouse, I picked up her yogurt cup and started eating it so it wouldn’t go to waste. The minute I finished Annie eyed me, suddenly alarmed, and cried, “Dora? Dora?”
“Uh….”
“DORA? DORA?”
“All done! You said you were all done!”
“DORA! WAH! DORA!”
I stared at Annie as she freaked out, then, after a beat of thought:
“Uh, uh, uh…. Cookie?”
Annie calmed down immediately.
“Cookie. Yes.”
I gave Annie a cookie and she took it, smiling.
“Heh. Heh. Cookie.”
Yeah, I know how that looked. Annie totally owned that conversation in her broken English. Tomorrow will be different though. I promise. Er, hope.
Tam says:
Ha! I love that she got out of eating yogurt and scored a cookie.
Genius, your girl.
Tracie says:
She totally got herself that cookie! I love it.
Jenn says:
You two should go on the road – Heather could of course be you boss or I mean manager. Perfect!!!
katrina @ They All Call Me Mom says:
My three year old is famous for discarding her food, claiming she is “full” or simply does not want it, but then as soon as someone comes along and starts eating it she throws a huge fit. “That’s MINE!!!!” Why do kids do that? The all do that! And when you try to explain to them, “But…but…you said you were full! You said you didn’t want it!!” that does absolutely no good. No matter if they wanted it or not, the fact is that it’s THEIRS, not ours. It will always be theirs.
I’ve found that they almost always say YES if I ask, “Can I eat this since you no longer want it?” It’s the control they want. That’s all. Control is everything to toddlers and preschoolers. As cute as they are, they are little control freaks.
Jannette says:
So true. hehe
Stephanie says:
Oh my Gosh, Annie is a genius!! I love this story.
Rebecca says:
Someone isn’t wrapped very tightly around a finger?
Nicole says:
Food rule #1: Never eat the kid’s food until after they leave the house for school (breakfast), are outside playing (lunch) or in bed for the night (dinner). Or else they will hunt you down like the vulture you are and BEAT YO ASS!
Nice one, Mike.
Giselle says:
LOL love it
Glam-O-Mommy says:
Dude. Annie is smart. She has got you whipped! Honestly, this same kind of conversation plays out between my husband J and daughter S all the time. S has him whipped too! Dads are so sweet, but also complete suckers where their daughters are concerned!
heather says:
perfect;y written dialogue – i could totally hear the conversation “Heh. Heh. Cookie.” – love it!!
Ray says:
Hahaha. That’s awesome! And that’s a SMART cookie you have there. I mean 20-month old. ;o)
Annalien says:
Loved this entry – too cute. And because my baby girl is just 2 weeks younger than Annie, I can totally relate. I adore this age.
Kadee says:
Heh. That’s how I get my two year old to eat – I make a plate of food, take a bite or two and leave it unattended… When I come back, she’s eating “mommy’s supper”. If I make her the same exact meal on her own plate she won’t touch it. Doesn’t help she refuses to eat off plastic kid plates either…
Love this post Mike. Cookie indeed