Talk Amongst Yourselves

With small children, there is always an interesting conversation to be had. What makes them interesting is you never know what they are going to say or what new things you will learn.

For instance, talking to Tiny is always an adventure because she is still learning words and sounds. She is steadily building her vocabulary but sometimes it still takes a little interpretation. The one thing I have always tried to work on was her name. Call me silly, but I would like her to be able to identify herself just in case.

Interestingly enough, while a child is learning to talk, They, you know “They”, say that pronouns should be kept out of a childs vocabulary because it will only confuse them. Well, that was all well and good when we just had the twins but now it’s impossible. Boy and Girl know how to use pronouns and do so quite often. The chances of us leaving pronouns out of Tiny’s vocab was impossible. The problem becomes Tiny thinks her name is a pronoun.

Whenever I ask “What’s your name?”
“Me” Tiny responds.
Even if I tried to trick Tiny with “Who’s toy is this?”
The response was “Mine”.
I became convinced she didn’t know her name.

That was until last Friday. Mommy was away so I got to stay home and take care of Tiny. It wasn’t my first experience doing the single parent thing but it’s been awhile since I had watched Tiny all by myself. So, in an effort to keep Tiny busy and amused, I took her to my office. We went around and met everyone and they all oohed and awed over Tiny. And, without doubt, she loved every minute of it. Of course, the very first person asks, “And what’s your name little girl?”

So, as I start to say “She doesn’t know her…”
Tiny blurts out “Tiny!”

And for the rest of the people she met, she continued to introduce herself as Tiny.

That night, to insure I wasn’t hearing things, I decided to ask the question. “What’s you name?”
“Me”

….. Sigh.

Of course, I have completely different conversations with Boy and Girl. Because they are older, we have much more in depth conversations about all sorts of crazy things. We talk about Star Wars, Horses, the Red Sox, Johnny Quest, and all manner of things. And occasionally, I even learn new things.

For example, recently I learned something about Boy that I never knew. It started when Girl was giving the nightly Pet Show (another story) when she turns to me and says “Sometimes I have to ask Boy to leave my room.”

Now, I was expecting a simple, Boy plays to rough, or I want to play by myself, so I decide to follow up with “Oh really?” I ask. “When is that?”

“Well, sometimes at night, after we go to bed. He gets bored and comes to come visit me. But, I get tired and I have to ask him leave.”

Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting this at all. “Oh really, now. And, what time does boy go to visit you?”
“The other night he came by at 8:54.”
“OH REALLY???? Excuse me.”

I got up and walked out of the room. And, as soon as I reached the hall, “BBBOOOYYYYY! COME HERE! We need to have a talk!!!”

I’m sure Boy and Girl selling each other out will end soon enough but for now, I’m going to enjoy it.