– Read all Talking With My Toddler posts here. –

But right around that time, we went from one kid to two and I quickly understood why moms lower their output expectations once they are outnumbered.

Here’s the thing though. I now feel terrible I haven’t blogged as much of Cole’s life as I did Lilly’s. I know it’s normal. Kind of like completing a baby book, or getting the nursery decorated before their first birthday. The odds of completion drastically decrease with each kid.

Well, it’s time I give this little guy his portion of the spotlight!

Cole had initially been slower to talk, but we have seen huge improvement in the last 8 months. He has always been very talkative and clearly had a great vocabulary, but no one could understand him except me. He officially started speech therapy last summer, which we opted to move forward with, since he still struggles with pronunciation. Plus, everyone told me it’s better to be proactive. I’d rather be working ahead on developing his speech now, than risk him struggling when he starts school.

Fast forward to now and he is mostly understood by many people around him. He occasionally still needs his Cole-to-English translator (me), but he can hold his own quite well. It’s been incredible to see his funny personality come alive.

I foresee many, many humorous additions in this round of Talking With My Toddler. For starters, I think he works the word penis into at least one conversation per day. More on that in the future

For this edition, I thought I would start off sweet. For out of all the things Cole has learned to say, this one is the most important. Last week, he and I had a little conversation in the car on our way back from speech therapy.

I mean, it is really hard to kick him out of bed when he’s this damn cute.

Prior info needed – Since December, I can almost count on one hand the number of times he has slept in his own bed all night. We thought it started as teething, then it was a cold, then more teeth and now? Well, who the hell knows. Either way, he starts off in his bed and winds up in ours hours later. So I decided to ask him why.

Me: “Hey, listen bubba, I wanted to ask you a question.”

Cole: “A keston?”

Me: “Yes, a question. Where are you supposed to sleep at night?”

Cole: “In my liten queen big boy bed” (Translation – Lightening McQueen bed, because we’re kick ass parents.)

Me: “That’s right. In your big boy bed. So bub, why have you been crawling into bed with mom and dad?”

Cole: (being sure to lock eyes with me in the rear view mirror to really drive home the melt…) “Because I miss mommy and daddy. I wuv mommy and daddy.”

He said this last line with such a sweet, sincere and almost sad tone. Tears immediately hit my eyes and I had to hold them back so I didn’t really upset him. Cole has said “I love you” in response to having it said to him, but this was the very first time he had said it on his own initiative and he used the right context.

Me: “Oh baby. We love you too. I love you so much.”

Cole: “I wuv you too much!” (his typical excited response to that statement)

With this conversation, he effectively melted away whatever parenting concerns I had about him crawling into bed with us. Once I repeated the chat to Adam, it did the same for him. I know the issue of independence and co sleeping can divide parents into one of two camps, but frankly, I don’t care. At this point, we are neither for or against it. Our toddler wants to cuddle for the last half of the night because he loves us. That’s all the information we need.

That being said, ideally speaking, he will grow out of his before he’s 18, or it might be a bit awkward. 

The post Talking With My Toddler. Round 2. #1. Learning the language of love. appeared first on Ideally speaking....

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If you’re a regular here, than you know I have recently blogged about the constant battle we are currently in with my daughter and her new found defiance. She’s just at that stage. The terrible 2s just seem to be spilling over a bit into the 3s…

One of her acts of rebellion is that she tries specifically not to look at us when she is being spoken to. I constantly have to say, “honey, please look at me,” in order to really get her attention when we’re having a discussion.

Recently, she fed it back to me in a way that had be struggling to keep my composure in check. This kid is funny, and in times of scolding, she knows how to work it.

She had put up a good solid fight leaving daycare, wouldn’t put on her shoes, wouldn’t collect her toys and just generally wouldn’t listen. When I finally got her outside, she bolted down the sidewalk. When I caught her, she was giggling, obviously pleased with herself.

At least one of us was.

Mama: “Lilly, you have to listen better to me. I don’t like having to get upset, or repeat myself or chase you. Ok?”

Lilly: (dazing off, away from me, completely ignoring me)

Mama: “Lilly, please look at me when I’m talking. Honey?”

Lilly: “What?” (looking in my general direction, but staring at the floor)

Mama: “No, please look me in the eyes. I would like to talk to you for a minute.”

Lilly: (looking up and smirking) “Look into my eyes…. look into my eyes….” (in her best Madame Mystery voice, waving her hands in front of her)

Mama: (trying and failing not to laugh at her) “You’re a funny kid you know that? Just please try to listen better to Mama, ok?”

Lilly: (still giggling and waving her hands) “Ok.”

And just like that our discussion was over. I have no idea where she even got that bit, but it was well played.

*Read more little musings with my funny lady with the rest of my Talking With My Toddler posts.

The post Talking With My Toddler #20: Look into my eyes. appeared first on Ideally speaking....