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Taylor’s vocabulary has expanded; she is speaking in complete sentences. Her average sentence length is roughly four to six words, and every once in a while seven words. According to the What to Expect: The Toddler Years, she is well ahead of the cognitive development curve. As a matter of fact, the book states that by three years old she should have a vocabulary of 31 words and speak in two to three word sentences, utilizing between one to three adjectives out of her language toolbox to describe people, places, things or ideas, and using prepositions and prepositional phrases such as “on the boat” and “in the air” and “out the door,” frequently. Proudly, I must announce to family and friends that she reached and surpassed those benchmarks months ago. We are finally at the point where we can ask Taylor what is wrong and she’ll answer us. If she needs something, anything, she can articulate it to us. And she is able to respond to simple questions such as, “What is Simon doing?” or “What would you like to wear this morning?” Simon, on the other hand, is still only fifteen months old. His needs and desires are heard by us, generally speaking, not spoken to us, in the form of a cry, grunt, or with clenched fists shortly followed by a groan, but he’s working on it.
This lack of dialogue, even in its simplest form, can be frustrating at times. For example, yesterday morning Simon woke up at 5 a.m. crying at the top of his lungs. My initial guess for his abrupt stir was hunger pains, followed by possible gas pains and / or teething pains. When fed, he ate little, stamping out the hunger guess. He hadn’t pooped during the night nor was he uncomfortable in a seated position– so it wasn’t gas pains. And, he wasn’t grabbing at his teeth nor did he mind when I palpitated the top and bottom of his mouth searching for a new fang or swollen gums. He did, however, have a slightly stuffy nose, but not enough to slow or impede his consumption of milk. I had, and I still have, no idea what was wrong with him. We’ll never know why he woke up early or why it took him another hour to fall back asleep.
The nice thing, even though it does little good at three o’clock in the morning, is that Taylor does understand Simon’s needs and his limited vocabulary. She is the first to let us know “Simon pooped” or “Si Pa hungry” or “Sipe’s want[s] [to] walk” or “Si Pa want gold fish [snacks].” I have, halfheartedly, thought about waking Taylor up during those nights that I can’t get Simon down for bed or when he wakes in the middle of the night and refuses to lay back down and asking her, “What’s wrong with him, Taylor?” I have to admit, as foolish and off the wall as this idea may sound, after an hour of crying, alligator rolling, and personal anguish, I’m ready to try just about anything. Thankfully though, Simon’s nighttime rousing doesn’t happen much anymore. And, if he is having a hard time falling asleep at night then it’s probably because he still has energy to burn before turning in or he is in some type of internal, gastric or muscular pain.
A friend of mine recently joked that I should be writing a child development book, comparing the developmental stages of girls and boys, utilizing my prior blogs as primary documentation and as a case study. I laughed then as I laugh now at the idea of making my kid’s lives more public, but that doesn’t mean I’m not considering it. I guess time will tell what I’ll end up doing with these 600 words every week. Until then, I’ll just keep typing away, reflecting on what I think I know, and making adjustments along the way. Someday, maybe, everything I see my kids do will make sense. Until then ….
This lack of dialogue, even in its simplest form, can be frustrating at times. For example, yesterday morning Simon woke up at 5 a.m. crying at the top of his lungs. My initial guess for his abrupt stir was hunger pains, followed by possible gas pains and / or teething pains. When fed, he ate little, stamping out the hunger guess. He hadn’t pooped during the night nor was he uncomfortable in a seated position– so it wasn’t gas pains. And, he wasn’t grabbing at his teeth nor did he mind when I palpitated the top and bottom of his mouth searching for a new fang or swollen gums. He did, however, have a slightly stuffy nose, but not enough to slow or impede his consumption of milk. I had, and I still have, no idea what was wrong with him. We’ll never know why he woke up early or why it took him another hour to fall back asleep.
The nice thing, even though it does little good at three o’clock in the morning, is that Taylor does understand Simon’s needs and his limited vocabulary. She is the first to let us know “Simon pooped” or “Si Pa hungry” or “Sipe’s want[s] [to] walk” or “Si Pa want gold fish [snacks].” I have, halfheartedly, thought about waking Taylor up during those nights that I can’t get Simon down for bed or when he wakes in the middle of the night and refuses to lay back down and asking her, “What’s wrong with him, Taylor?” I have to admit, as foolish and off the wall as this idea may sound, after an hour of crying, alligator rolling, and personal anguish, I’m ready to try just about anything. Thankfully though, Simon’s nighttime rousing doesn’t happen much anymore. And, if he is having a hard time falling asleep at night then it’s probably because he still has energy to burn before turning in or he is in some type of internal, gastric or muscular pain.
A friend of mine recently joked that I should be writing a child development book, comparing the developmental stages of girls and boys, utilizing my prior blogs as primary documentation and as a case study. I laughed then as I laugh now at the idea of making my kid’s lives more public, but that doesn’t mean I’m not considering it. I guess time will tell what I’ll end up doing with these 600 words every week. Until then, I’ll just keep typing away, reflecting on what I think I know, and making adjustments along the way. Someday, maybe, everything I see my kids do will make sense. Until then ….
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