The Word

This past weekend the minions turned 18 months.  Jack was also horrifically sick with a stomach virus (as was I), It didn't help that he threw up on me 9 times over the course of 6 days.  Late one evening while I was rocking my little boy in front of an episode of Community, he repeated something out of a conversation between characters Britta and Jeff.  A tiny, but distinctive "Dude!" was called out from over my shoulder.  I looked at Chris for confirmation, "Yeah, our son just said dude."

There was a slight delay in my excitement due to extreme exhaustion and frustration, but when I did my periodic check up on how the minions are faring score wise on first words (by 18 months most children can speak around a dozen words clearly)   I decided to do a little check.  Here are the ten most common first words, then there are the first words that my children say....

Molly:
Individual words: Mama, Dada, Daddy, Kitty, Cat, Doggy, Nana, Grampa, Cousins, Sue, Yes, Jack, Dance, That, Sock, Shoes, Dick*, Santa, Drew, Hello?
Phrases: I'm busy, Taking it, Give it to me, Can I play with that?**, Just a sec, This is that, that is this, Jack no!***, You're welcome.

Jack:
Individual words: Mama, Dada, Daddy, Bite, Hit****, Nana, Up, Dude, Jack, Attack, Kitty, Cat, Izz (for one of our sitters), More.
Phrases: Jack Attack.

This is super exciting and extremely horrifying at the same time.  First off my kids are parrots when you don't want them to be (Molly) and second when you try to get them to perform you end up getting the Michigan J. Frog treatment.

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

 

 By the time they are 24 months they should be saying between 50-300 words. I am convinced that I'm going to be appalled by what we teach them over the next few months. Maybe a swear jar? I don't know how to cure Chris of his constant colourful commentary while driving.

When I was a kid and not allowed to swear, my brother and I developed a secret "swear language" so my mother wouldn't know that we were saying mean things to each other.  All I have to say is this, there are a lot of "households" on the road...and I'm sure my brother would agree.


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*Yeah, I know it's bad right? Surprisingly it wasn't me she picked it up from, it was her dad while he was driving.
**Clearly the girl knows what she wants and isn't afraid to let you know.
***Another parenting triumph on our part.
****Many of these words are in response to Molly, "Taking it" or showing Jack who's the boss.

It's the End of the World as we Know it...I don't feel fine...

The zombie plague has fallen upon my family, AKA a really nasty summer cold complete with oozing eye guck, and it has not been pretty this past week.

Outbreak Day 1
23:00hrs - Chris and I were preparing to head upstairs to bed.  Out of no where we heard this blood curdling scream from the nursery.  In the three hours that had passed since Molly had gone to bed she had been transformed into a snot breathing dragon and she was furious.  It took us about an hour to calm her down, and she woke up two more times that night.

The next day tried my best to keep all of Jack and Molly's toys, bottles etc. separate, which is difficult to do when their only two hobbies are biting and licking each other's arms, hands and noses and trying to kill themselves/ each other.

Outbreak Day 3
Chris gave me a break and parented solo while I went to a spinning class with my brother so I could blow off some steam.*  I came back refreshed, relaxed and ready for a good night sleep.  Like clock work at 11:30pm Zombie Jack awoke screaming, "MumMumMum" which is translated to: Pick me up and cuddle me while I scream, cough in your face, rub snot on your face and cry A LOT.**  We were faced with another up and down night of sick baby cuddles and care.

I know that this picture of Jack being attacked by Godzilla(s) has nothing to do with illness or zombies, but it somehow seemed appropriate.

Outbreak Day 4
Am pursued constantly by boy zombie who refuses to actually crawl and creeps around the floor by smacking the ground, grunting and only using his hands to drag the rest of his body while moaning: Mumum at the top of his lungs.

After a near miss dizzy spell the night before I was feeling fine, despite a slight sinus head ache.  I even attended wedding reception for cousin.  Only apparent symptom of sinus medication is severe lack of alcohol tolerance.***


Outbreak Day 5
Symptoms included an ear ache which then transferred into severe congestion and oozing eye.  I was officially infected.  Chris was sent to the drug store for a 2AM run to help save me from myself. Chris stays home from work the next day so I can rest and try to get better.  The babies appear to be gaining strength, while I get worse.  Highlight of the day, Molly removes the carbon monoxide alarm from the wall, sets off the alarm and gets so scared that she poos her pants.  Even zombie Sara finds that funny.

Outbreak Day 7
Have officially become one of those parents who lays there listlessly while my children play around me.  I follow them around the house with pillow so I can collapse on the floor beside them while they play and I can make sure that they don't die.  Feel like someone has been boxing my eye sockets.

Outbreak Day 8
Dayquil no longer working, this has become a sinus/allergy issue.  Babies are happy and giggling, I want to sleep for a million hours, but can't even when they're napping because I have the trots.*****  Chris can't stop laughing at my comment of, "I would have slept better last night had I not had such intense diarrhea."  All I have to say to him is, "You're next buddy."

*And feel some of the pain that I missed by having a c-section rather than natural labour?
**Mom, I owe you an apology, his first word is actually mumum, and it has consistent meaning as I've learned this past week.
***Yeah, I became a slurring mess while the rest of my family looked at me like I was crazy, because besides my mother who was DD, I had matched everyone else round for round and no one else was anywhere near the drunken hot mess that I was.
****Sorry, I know that was too much information, even for me.

More Than Words

Many months ago I asked my mom what my first word was. She replied, simply, Mama. I shook my head, insisting that Mama  is a sound and not a word, especially at the six months marked in my baby book.  My father then piped in that his first word was, Breakfast.  I'll accept that one.  He still really likes breakfast almost seven decades later.

With all of the baby sounds and cooing that go on around here it would be easy to claim a sound as a first word. Which is why Chris and I set out some parameters as to what qualifies as the big first word.

1. It must be a word not a baby speak sound (i.e. Molly has been saying Hey, Hi, and Heya for months now to get attention - that doesn't count)

2. It can't be an immediate repeat of a sound or word that either one of us has been barking at the baby to get them to repeat, that's mirroring, not talking.

3. It must be in the correct context.

We've been waiting for the first words from these two since Jack started constantly saying Ageee.  I love to repeat Agee to him and my mom is convinced that he's going to think that's my name.*  They've been on the brink of first words for about a month or two now when Bababa, Nananana, Mama and Dada started being regular sounds.

They've also been really good at mirroring what we say.  Which can be problematic, particularly when Chris is driving.  Two weeks ago, Chris was driving and called someone a nasty word.  From the back driver side we heard an emphatic Dicdicdicdicdic.  Molly was thrilled with her new sound.   Since then I've been trying to get her to say Digdigdigdig instead with mixed results.**   It looks like it's time to install one of those limo dividers into the Sexfire.***

Then on June 3rd Molly was up to her usual early evening routine of chasing our cat and crawling around the floor like a maniac.  She caught up to the cat and exclaimed, Kitty Cat!  After several tests and repeats we are confident that this qualifies as her first word, even though most of the time it sounds more like Key Cat.  She's even said it while pointing to pictures in books of cats.  Way to go Molly.

Miss Molly and her Key Cat.  Notice that she's just about to grab his tail.

She's since started saying Daddy and Chris (sounds more like Kiss) regularly to a pink gingham wash cloth and pink soother.  The jury's still out on that one.  

*She has a valid point.  A friend of hers was called "Bus" by his first grandchild.  And guess what, it stuck, all of his grandchildren call him Bus.  

**This worked last year when my three year old niece heard someone on the Big Bang Theory call someone else a bastard, started yelling Bastard at the top of her lungs.  My mom cleverly insisted that they had said  Master.  She started yelling Master instead.

**Our name for our 2001 Sunfire as coined by my brother.