Chatterbox

Lucy is starting to talk more.

Sometimes I understand her perfectly. Like I did during the conversation we had about her stuffed cat that she sleeps with every night. I went to get her out of bed one morning and she proceeded to explain to me that her cat was:

1) A "Cat!"  ("That's right! Lucy has a cat!")
2) "Meow!" ("Very good! The cat says 'meow!'")
3) "Soft!" ("Yes, your cat is very soft.")
and
4) "Cute!" ("Yep, it's a cute cat. You're cute too Lucy.")

Granted, the entire conversation was conducted with single words, but the point is that it WAS a conversation and I understood it.

Then there are the times when I'm completely clueless. For a couple of weeks Lucy had a mysterious problem with going down stairs. Every time we got to the top of the stairs and I started to help her down, she would start gabbling, gesturing, and dancing around. The only two words in the tirade that I could understand were "please" and "down."After lots of stamping she'd sit down on the top step and start crying, at which point I would give up and carry her down the stairs. Eventually (after lots and lots of charades on Lucy's part) I concluded that the problem was that she didn't want to go down the stairs on her bottom like a baby, but she was too afraid to walk down the stairs like an adult. So now she walks down ONE stair, with Mommy's help, and then I carry her down so her dignity can stay intact.

Most of the time, I have to puzzle it out. The other night I was putting Lucy down with Tommy's assistance. After story time, Tommy was offended that I put him down to put Lucy in her crib. He started crying. From her crib, Lucy started shouting "Ky-ee, ky-ee, Ty-Ty ky-ee." Which translated to "Crying, crying, Tommy, crying." (In case you couldn't figure that one out on your own, because I sure couldn't!) Then she started saying "Bear!" and giving me her stuffed bear. I agreed with her that it was a bear. I kissed Bear goodnight. I hugged Bear. I tucked Bear in. I complimented Bear. I gave Bear back to Lucy. She kept thrusting him at me. Finally she said "Ty-ty ky-ee. Bear," and pointed to Tommy. She wanted Tommy to have Bear to make him stop crying! I picked Tommy up, picked the bear up, and said goodnight. Lucy went to bed happy, and Tommy went to bed with Bear that night.

Naptime! (Without Bear's Help)