The Gift of Garb

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Much to my dismay, our daughter learned how to say and correctly refer to ‘Daddy’ long before she learned ‘Mummy.’ As much as I was excited about her early words and thrilled that her vocabulary began to develop even before her 1st birthday, I wished, often aloud, that after the labor of love that is motherhood, my name would be the first thing on her lips. My dear husband tried to appease me. He said, “Don’t worry she’ll be saying ‘mummy’ in no time.” He was right about my worries being unfounded. These days, I wake up daily to loud trumpets of “Mummy, Mummy, Muuuummmmmmyyyy, Hellooooo? I’m awake!” Our daughter’s second year has been a thrilling series of rib-cracking moments and mouth-dropping gasps as she has stunned us time and time again with what is obviously the gift of garb….and humor!

Just earlier today in response to her father’s inquiry about unfinished food on her plate, she said, “Hold on Daddy, I just need to check my e-mails!” She then proceeded to look for my phone and pretend to be a busy professional. LOL!  She has also responded to requests for chores in the past with ‘I’m busy, I have things to do!” At other times, she has instructed her Dad or myself to take our vitamins if she sees any sign of us getting sick! 

I guess what amuses and frightens us most about her speech is that it often mirrors what she’s heard us say or observed us do! Children at this age are eerily observant and will replay your life right back to you, especially when you have company! Because they are so impressionable, it is especially crucial to fill their minds with wholesome things – good books, prayer, and educational games. One of the things that I have found useful recently, in additional to our usual reading and library visits, is flashcards. I recently purchased a pack on Amazon that allows me to drill her in her colors, shapes, numbers, letters, and sight words. It makes for great bonding time and fun games. It is also a great lesson of patience for me, as my two year old has an attention span of zero. One day on our ride back home from school, she proudly announced to me that the upcoming stop sign was red and an octagon! I was duly impressed and reminded myself how worthwhile those nightly drills were!

Her witty comments have been noticed at school too. During the thanksgiving luncheon at school, she shared a table with her principal who noticed that our daughter would much rather dissect and play with her mashed potatoes than eat them. “Why don’t you want to eat you mashed potatoes," the principal asked. “I just don’t,” our daughter replied with a self-assured shrug that tickled her principal pink. Aside from her humor, I was just relieved to hear that I wasn’t the only one she gave a hard time over her food!

Her interactions with her peers are just as humorous. Recently, we met family friends we hadn't seen in a while. They have a son who is a few days apart in age from our daughter. When the kids met, the boy was obviously super shy and hid behind his mum to avoid all interaction. Our daughter approached him, and giggled knowingly and said, "Look Mummy, he's cute!" That certainly didn't help to put the poor boy at ease but it provided a great laugh for us parents!

These days, wishing my daughter would say ‘mummy’ or talk in general, is but a distant memory. She fills our lives with constant, funny, witty, chatter, which we cherish dearly because we know that we’ll miss these years down the road.