Conversations with Lainey

So Lainey is talking now.  Has been.  For a while. And she talks a lot. She even talks herself to sleep at night. She went from a few of the same words, to a bunch of words, to phrases, to sentences, to conversations in such a short time.  I know it's perfectly average for her age, but the amount of words and phrases she knows and her ability to communicate so well just fascinates me.  She definitely knows what she wants...and a lot of the time she can tell us.  It's been fun.  I've been trying to jot down some of her little sayings and funnier conversations.  So why not share them? They're pretty entertaining. Granted, she has a toddler accent so although I typed the words she said, they might require a little translation to someone not used to her dialect (i.e. juice box sounded more like "doos bots." So, if you're wondering what it's like to live with a tiny human that's learning how to talk, here are some conversations we've had with Lainey the past few months.

Early frequent phrases (March/April 2014):
Daddy read! (when we get her ready for bed)
Daddy go? (when daddy would leave the room)
Daddy do it! (change her diaper, change her clothes, wipe her hands/face after meals, drive her to school, get her out of the car seat, push the stroller) Can you say, daddy's girl?
Mamma comin' later (This one goes back to when we moved and she started at her new daycare.  Apparently, she would say it a lot during the day in those first few weeks. Ugh, broke my heart. As if I didn't feel guilty enough about her having to go to a new daycare because we moved.  And then she would say it at home, when I was right in front of her. John has tried to convince me it might not mean to her what it would mean to us, for instance, maybe it means "Momma picks me up."  But, as time has gone on she doesn't say it very much if at all anymore, so it was probably some sort of self comforting phrase.)
Sunday School! (Our church has a parent and child Sunday School class for 1-3 year olds.  Lainey loves it.  For about a 5 week period, many times when we got her up in the morning the first thing out of her mouth was Sunday School!?! How do you explain to a toddler that you only get to go to Sunday School once a week?)

Early conversations (March/April 2014):
Lainey picks up her purse and takes off walking.
Me: Hey, where are you going?
Lainey: Nana's house!
Me: Who's at Nana's house?
Lainey: Nana....Boppa.....And diddy (kitty) too!

I like to ask her questions about her day on the drive home from school.
Me: Lainey, what did you have for lunch today?
Lainey: Hot dogs!
I was impressed because later I checked the menu and indeed, she did have hot dogs that day.  My kid is a genius, I thought. The next day I asked her again.
Me: Lainey, what did you have for lunch today?
Lainey: Hot dogs!
Hmm.  I asked her the next day.  Hot dogs.  And the next.  Hot dogs. The answer to that question is hot dogs, turns out. She just happened to answer it the first time on a day that she actually had hot dogs.  Even now, when we ask that question, she usually says, enthusiastically even, "Hot dogs!" We've finally figured out that maybe she thinks we're asking her what she WANTS for lunch.

April 18, 2014 - I had taken the afternoon off to get her pictures taken with Katie.  We were wrapping up and getting ready to go. It was a little later in the afternoon and so I was trying to decide what we should do next.  I was thinking out loud and asked Lainey, should we go shopping? I might have mentioned maybe we'd go to Target, pick up some stuff.  On the way home, I decided that we should just go home; the stuff I needed from Target wasn't urgent, we could just go home and play.  I pulled into the driveway and was waiting for the garage door to open when Lainey started crying.
Me: What's wrong?
Lainey: through her tears, Shoppin'! Turns out, she was really looking forward to that trip to Target! Note to self, must always be aware of what you say in front of this child.
Me: Do you want to go to Target?
Lainey: Immediately cheering up, Yah!
It was so sweet. So I closed the garage door, backed out of the driveway, and away we went.   How do you not?

April 29, 2014 - We were playing with the animal magnets on the refrigerator.  I was pointing to each animal and asking Lainey what it said.  We have a Joe Mauer cut-out magnet and I decided to see what she'd say. We had been to a Twins Game with her recently and taught her to say "Go, go, Twins!" We mentioned Joe Mauer to her a couple times because of the magnet and she has an ice cream bucket filled with toys that has his picture on it.
Me: What does Joe Mauer say?
Lainey: Go go Twins!
A few days later we got her saying it on video:



May 2014
Lainey wanted a granola bar on the way to daycare one morning.  I gave her a piece of it before we took off.  A few blocks down the road:
Lainey: More 'nola bar!
Me: Lainey, I can't give you more granola bar, I'm driving.  I can give you another piece when we stop.
Lainey: More 'nola bar!
Me: Lainey, I'm driving now.  I can't give you more granola bar until we stop.
Lainey: Stop, Mama! Stop, Mama!
When we got to a red light, I gave her a piece of granola bar.
Lainey: Smiling she took it and popped it in her mouth...Tank you, Mama!

We were having supper one night and Lainey grabbed a bunch of corn and shoveled it in with both hands with corn flying everywhere.  She then laughed and said, "I Cookie Monster!!!"

Before supper one night we were out of milk and John was going to go out and get some.  We were discussing whether he was going to run to Walgreens or go to the grocery store.  He was leaving to go get milk, and Lainey got concerned and we told her he'd be right back. A little while later, our new neighbor, Mike (Lainey calls him Mr. Mike) knocked on the door to tell us something.  That night, after supper we were playing in the living room.  Lainey walked over to the door.
Me: Lainey, where are you going?
Lainey: Grocery store! Milk! Right back! Mr. Mike!
Okay, then.  Someone is paying attention.

June 2014
In the last couple months, rarely a day goes by where Lainey doesn't mention Joe Mauer in some way.
If she sees any baseball player: Joe Mauer!
If she sees a baseball field or picture of a baseball field: Joe Mauer's house!
If she's talking about Joe Mauer she starts throwing out some of her other baseball related vocab including: hit the ball, bat, ballgame, Twins game (Twins is prounounced Chins), Muttnik (the Mankato Moondogs Mascot) and TC Bear.
There's also been requests for "Joe Mauer song!" I had no idea what this was so I made one up to the tune of Frere Jaques.
Joe Mauer is a baseball star, baseball star
He hit the ball, he hit the ball
Really far. Really far.
And the Joe Mauer song was born.

6/27/14 - I was told by Lainey's daycare director that she and some of the older toddlers joined the preschoolers for a picnic at the park for lunch.  On the way home this was our conversation:

Me: Lainey, did you have a picnic at school today?
Lainey: Yah. Park!
Me: Oh, did you have a picnic in the park?
Lainey: Yah. Chips!
Me: Chips?! Did you eat chips?
Lainey: Yah! And juice box! I drink it.
Me: Ooooh a juice box!
Lainey: A-Yummy! I squeeze it.
I look back at Lainey and she has a huge grin on her face. She's so proud.  Clearly, juice boxes are the bomb in her little world.
Me: What else did you have to eat?
Lainey: A sanwich
Turns out she does know what she had for lunch after all! I suppose a juice box and chips is pretty memorable!

7/2/14 - Lainey and I were watering flowers outside after work.  I was watering the flowers between the garage doors and she took her little watering can to the flowery bushes on the far side of the front of the house.  All of a sudden I heard an "Ahh!!", kind of a yell but no cry after it.  I looked over to see Lainey with a startled look on her face, running down the sidewalk toward me.
Me: Lainey, what happened?
Lainey: Buzz, Mama!!
Me: Oh, did you see a bee?
Lainey: Yah. I scared.

7/7/14 - I was carrying her in to daycare and she saw one of the teachers, Lisa.
Lainey: Hi Lisa!
Lisa: Hi Alaina.
Lainey: Pats me on the back.  Mine's (her version of "my") Mama!

7/11/14 - We were having hot dogs and Lainey grabbed two piece of bun, put them up to her ear and said, "I listening to music!!"

July/August 2014 -
 She now can usually count to at least 15 though not always in order or reciting each number, most often skipping 3.  We sometimes count before we do things and we'll say 1...2... and pause and she sometimes belts out 8!
When we ask, "Lainey, do you know Spanish?" She usually can usually count to 10 in Spanish but again doesn't always have the order and skips some.  And then there are the times she counts...uno, dos, tres, taco! And for some reason she pronounces nueve nov-el-la. Pretty hilarious.
And finally, someone also knows their ABC's:




There you have it.  Conversations with Lainey.

Can't wait to hear what our little chatterbox is going to say next!