Musical Toddler Talk

Libby is a talker - That's for sure! But sometimes I can't quite understand what she is saying. So many of her new words sound the same. Of course, this can be a source of great frustration when she is determined that I WILL understand no matter how many times she has to repeat it. But once I figure out her toddler talk she lights up with such confidence (and relief!). It's a beautiful thing.

Here are 2 cute things she said recently that took a little mommy revelation to decipher.

Libby loves to jam on the instruments she received for Christmas and she usually wants mommy to play whatever instrument she's not playing. So, the other day she was playing her guitar and she wanted mommy to play the keyboard and sing into the attached microphone. Libby stopped playing and got really close to me and said "kicking" very sweetly. I was immediately confused as to what she was saying. She continued to repeat "kicking" "kicking" "kicking". I tried distracting her from her determination to communicate by playing the keyboard more wildly. But she kept saying, "KICKING" louder and louder. Finally I stopped playing, looked at her and said, "Kicking what Libby?" in a somewhat frustrated tone. She said, "kicking 1, 2. kicking 1, 2." And then it dawned on me - she watched me in the studio the day before testing a microphone and saying "testing 1, 2, 3" repeatedly. When I started "testing" her $19.99 Wal-mart Keyboard microphone (which annoyingly feeds back with an ear-piercing pitch) she smiled real big. She was finally satisfied.

2. At 6:55pm central time tonight (Wednesday) Libby started saying something that sounded like "mickey I dra". She has enjoyed drawing a lot lately so I thought she wanted to draw Mickey Mouse or something like that. When she realized I was clueless, she looked at me like I was crazy, planted herself on the couch, and whined the words "mickey I dra" "mickey I dra" over and over - and over. Once again, her very slow mother needed a revelation. I noticed her eyes kept wandering back to the TV when she was whining these words. I looked at the clock, saw that it was 5 minutes to 7pm and realized what she was pleading for....."American Idol!"(Perfectly clear, right?- "Amickey Idra") Yep, our barely 2 year old girl loves to watch crazy, somewhat delusional people try to "sing (which, suddenly concerns me since she always enjoys watching mommy and daddy sing - are WE delusional???) Every time a commercial comes on Libby gets all worried that Amickey Idra is not coming back on and she continually signs "more" "more".

So much fun! - C