It all started last week, really, when she began talking in complete sentences. I asked, "Sarina, do you want me to open the door?" and she responded, "Mommy, open the door."
Several 4-word phrases and sentences followed. She dropped a quarter in her grandparents' pool and said, "Money in the pool!"
What got me the most, aside from the fact that she was 16 months old, was that she was speaking in gramatically correct terms. I was unstoppably happy, glowing with the pride of a parent who's just found out her daughter will be the valedictorian of her class at Harvard AND has paid off her schooling with the money she's made as a cover model for tasteful magazines. Then the unstoppable happiness stopped.
It happened when I was preparing for Sarina's bath. She was playing in her room, and I went to her closet to check for diapers. She came up behind me and tapped me.
"Yes, Sarina?"
"Mommy," she said, looking up at me, "What are you doing?"
I stammered, "I'm looking to see if we have any overnight diapers left," and my heart momentarily stopped mid-beat. I was explaining myself to Sarina. My baby was gone. In her place was this brilliant child, capable of expressing original thoughts and questions. She wasn't parroting me. She was just coming over and asking me what was on her mind.
It's all fun and games until someone expresses original thoughts.
Suddenly, it was serious. No more squealing to my dear relatives about the latest bit of Sarina brilliance. No, this was a moment of mourning. I felt like she skipped so many stages at once-- leaping straight from one word at a time to complete sentences within a week, bypassing the cute mixed-up sentence structures toddlers are supposed to have. She's even using pronouns and contractions properly. Where's the fun in that?
She also decided to use her potty today for the first time, just to rub it in. And she said, "My big girl potty!"
This girl astounds me, not just because she's so bright, but because she's the sweetest, most loving, non-complaining, tough little giggler I could have imagined. I could work the rest of my life at being the best parent I can be (and I sure plan to), and never feel like I'm worthy of her. Her awesomeness is just too awesome.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. I'm glad I have people who I can share this stuff with.
P.S. Hey, guess what? Did you know it's possible to really and truly get sick of reading a story you wrote to your own child? ("Yes, Sarina. Hattie, Hattie, Hattie. She gets a haircut. Blah blah blah!")
Posts
Jenna,
ReplyDeleteThat is an adorable story.
I wish that I had something like that in my memories of my son. Instead, talking was one area where he had "issues."
For some reason, he would not mimic me or his father and was delayed in talking. He was always vocal, but it was not in recognizable words. He developed his own language and we wound up trying to translate his created words into English.
So at about the time my son turned three and after I heard other mothers mention they were taking their sons to speech lessons I had Ian screened. (I finally stopped listening to my mother-in-law's insistence that all children develop at different rates and that I should not be concerned *and* I therefore listened to my ever increasingly worried gut and became concerned.)
His intake evaluation showed that he readily understood what the speech therapist was saying, but that his verbal skills allowed for her to understood only about 10% of his words whereas the normal range for his age was at about 50%. He had speech lessons for 45 minutes twice a week for six months.
You would never know that today.
Linda
Of course she's got some linguistic genius going on, how could she not? Your writing never fails to engage. Hope all is well! I am working at the house that Big Bird built this summer...well til the end of the week.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story. My son is so close to this too. I was just admiring him today and realizing that he's not so much a baby anymore. How did he grow so fast?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Jenna, on your grown-up toddler! :) :( Mine was born the same week as Sarina, and he doesn't say many words, let alone sentences. But I guess rather than worrying about it when I read about the smart ones like yours :D, I should cherish his baby time--although, that kid has the biggest toddler feet I've ever seen! Hugs and kisses to you both!
ReplyDeleteNot to worry, I'm sure there will be plenty of instances of cute toddler-isms to keep you satisfied through the years. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat did you expect with such a brilliant Momma?
ReplyDelete