Talking up a storm

The other day my friend Stacey mentioned how her little boy, Hugo -- one month older than Cary and Dean -- was speaking in 4-to-5 word "sentences." And my friend Angel recently mentioned how her son Zachary -- one day younger than Cary and Dean -- has had a "language explosion."

It got me to thinking about how my boys, like theirs, have really been talking up a storm as of late. Everyone notices it, from my Mom to Michelle to people we meet out and about. They talk and talk and talk ...and talk some more. Like Hugo, they are stringing more and more words together. Like Zachary, they are able to say just about any word they want now, with some, but not a tremendous amount of, effort.

Michelle and I have daily marvelfests at all the things these boys say and do.

They can speak in complete sentences:

•  "Mommy upstairs with Baby Clair, resting."
• "Baby Clair crying, want her pacifier."
• "I no like it. I no like poop in the potty."
• "No, no go to Aunt Tootie house. Stay inside."
• "Eat dinner when Daddy comes home."
• "Mommy, I find a truck (pointing underneath the sofa). I find it under there."
• And here's one that really floored both of us: Cary to Dean the other day, while sitting in their highchairs: "No Dean, stop making the noise. Eat your lunch! Drink your agua! Okaaaaaay?" 

(Dean, of course, upon being given a direct order, did the exact opposite.)

They also use pretty big words for not-yet-2-year-olds.

 Today Cary used the word "pretend," as in "Dean pretend to cry!" And yesterday, when one of the boys' toys kept going off mysteriously (freaking me out) Dean said, "Somebody pushing it."

Cary routinely tells me he's "busy" or "I'm doing something," when I ask him to come here. And Dean can sing at least four songs, word for word, all the way through in perfect pitch. (Unless I ask him to do it for friends or family. Then of course he can't do anything but say "NO!")

They throw pillows on the floor and say "Pillow mountain!" And then they scale the pillows and say, "Mountain climber!" Cary tells me about the "neighbors" he hears running up their stairs next door (hazards of living in a rowhouse). Dean asks me for "pineapple, please!"

At the doctor on Thursday, Cary (while reading a book) yelled, "Dr. Bodnar!!! The monkeys eating the bananas!" Dr. Bodnar cracked up. And then told me, "His language is out of this world."

Both boys cry when the "ice cream truck" rolls down our street without stopping, and ask for it to "come back."  They love their bathtub "hippopotamus" toys. They flip through "magazines" or "newspapers" and say, "reading." When I'm working, they say, "Mommy's computer." They tell me to put their food in the "microwave." Their favorite words are "lawnmower" and "weed whacker."

They blabbed to my Mom that we had gotten a new "shower." (It was just the curtain, but she didn't need to know that. It would have been fine for her to think my bathroom always looks that bright and clean! Thanks, boys!)

Dean comforted Cary when he was looking out the front door for Michelle by saying, "MiMi on her way. MiMi driving." When Michelle told them to use their spoons to scoop up their yogurt like a bulldozer, Cary said, "Scoop it like excavator."

Ummmmm. Hello! Do you boys know you're not yet 2? Hellloooo!

And this is all I can remember off the top of my head. There's so much more they say, it's unbelievable that these are the same boys who used to just stare off into space and coo at things. I am seriously amazed at them.

They are so much fun to talk to and be with right now, it makes it infinitely easier to deal with the meltdowns and tantrums that pepper their day. It's like their language explosion, as Angel so aptly put it, is my reward for months and months of not knowing what the heck they wanted! And apparently it only gets even more pronounced at 2-and-a-half, so I can't even imagine what kinds of things they'll be saying then. I can't wait to talk to them more and more!

By the way, my daughter is also clearly going to be verbal. At not even three months, she already says "H!"

I'm telling you! See for yourself:

Geniuses, these Davis kiddos!! And darn cute, too!