Say what?

So Tyler has this new habit - one that Ethan used to have (and still does, to an extent) – of repeating things over and over until he thinks you’ve heard it. But the only way he believes that you’ve heard it is when you say it back to him word for word. And heaven forbid if you mess it up, because then he’ll start repeating it all over again. This goes on all day long.
I remember when Ethan first started to do this. He was about the age Tyler is now. At first I thought it was pretty cute. Then it got a bit annoying. Eventually he stopped doing it quite so much, but he still does it if he is talking to you and there is other noise in the background (like Tyler, or the TV, or somebody else talking). Doesn’t the child realise I can listen to more than 3 things at once? I’m a multi-tasker!

So anyway, just as Ethan starts to grow out of this habit, Tyler starts it up. At the moment it doesn’t annoy me because I’m still enjoying his speech development. You know when your kids first start to talk “properly”, using long sentences and understanding big words, you’re just so proud of them and you want to listen to them talking all the time? And then, gradually, it becomes a constant droning sound in the background that you try to shut out! LOL. Well, we’re still at that first stage with Tyler. The stage where we giggle and laugh at the things he says, where we ask him to repeat words because he sounds so adorable when he says them (like “San Diego”, “crack-a-lackin” and “enclosure” from the Madagascar book, just to name a few).

Oops, I think I’ve made it sound like I don’t want to listen to Ethan talking at all. That’s really not the case, I enjoy having little chats with him, and I love that we can have such great conversations now. I think all the mums out there know what I mean though … some days it just feels like all you’ve done is answer mindless questions! I guess I should try harder to appreciate both boys’ conversational skills. After all, I’m very proud of them.