"Icey keem & Touchie down"

When, now 24 year old, Teddy was about 9 months old, his worried mother took him to the pediatrician fearing he was not on track for developmental milestones like crawling, pulling himself up on furniture etc. Dr. Nirgudkar patiently listened to my anxiety as he also observed older siblings, Timmy & Meaghan, handing and bringing Teddy any and all items he didn't even know he wanted. Kindly he smiled and said: " Keep those two away from him and he will be just fine... and he is.

 

I thought of this parenting 101 lesson yesterday as I have observed Annie becoming a champion communicator through physical jesters and charades. It occurred to me that  we should encourage her to say words for her wants as opposed to pointing and acting out her desires. For example, after dinner each night Annie will point to the freezer. We dutifully ask, "do you want some ice cream?" Her head nods like the bobble head dog I remember from my childhood in the back window of my grandparent's car.

All day today we told her, "us your words, say what you want." 

Clearly she is a fast learner because after dinner tonight announces: "All done...icey keem peas!" This was immediately followed by a score by the NY Giant football team on TV.

Annie threw her arms into the air and yelled "Touchie down!"  When I asked her to repeat it so I could capture  all this cuteness on film she was lightly confused and yelled "Amen." Then again maybe she knew exactly what she was saying!