At church this week I ended up on the hemmed in side of the pew. This usually happens to me, even though I remember I hate the inexorable tide of three children and a loving husband pressing me into the corner where the pew meets the wall, because I am usually the first to walk into the chapel. Even when we are late, I am not shy about walking up to the front for some padded seats. Then throughout the service, one or two or all three of the children want my lap for their heads or their bodies or their books and snacks, and I am pressed back into that wall. I have been thinking of memorizing Shel Silverstein’s I’m Being Swallowed By a Boa Constrictor poem for these special family togetherness times.
On Sunday Spot was on my lap for most of the 70-minute service. Not that I was counting exactly how many minutes it was. But she was there, keeping me entertained, and commenting on everything. When the deacons (12-13 year-old boys) passed the sacrament (like communion), this was Spot’s contribution to the reverence and reflection of that holy ordinance:
Spot: Hey Mommy, that’s a big boy.
Me: Uh-huh.
Spot: Hey Mommy, that’s two big boys.
Me: (nod)
Spot: Hey Mommy, that’s two big boys with water.
Me: Yes honey, shhhh.
Spot: Hey Mommy, that’s not a big boy (about the the girl in the row behind us).
Me: Can you use your church voice, sweetie?
Spot: Mommy, I need my coloring book.
Me: (rifles through bag)
Spot: Mommy, I need my coloring book with crayons.
Me: (desperate bargaining whisper) You can color as long as you’re quiet.
Spot: Hey Mommy, that’s a white boy!
Me: Have a crayon, honey.
Spot: Hey Mommey, that’s two white boys!
Me: Shhhh, sweetie, here’s some of Mommy’s special gum.
*Since white boys are not exactly scarce in Seagull Fountain, and to protect Spot from charges of reverse-anti-poly-racism, I should note that she was probably referring to the white dress shirts the boys wear.
And now for Stacy, who requested a video of Spot’s non-stop chatter, I have for your viewing pleasure a short recording of Spot in situ, as it were. It’s a bit quiet, and jumpy, which I like to call “video-realism” a la The Bourne Identity.
Spot on the trail from jane on Vimeo.
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Oh she is CUTE. She reminds me a lot of my 3yo son. – Not in looks mind you.. she’s much GIRLIER. But the way she talked and kept going. Um. Yeah.
With my 2nd, you could get her to stop if you acknowledged what she was trying to tell you and asked her a couple questions about it. My third? NOTSOMUCH. =)
My Lucy has the exact same hat. weird, or we both found the same sale. Totally cute and I think if we got our Lucys together you and I wouldn’t have to talk for several days – they would do enough for all four of us.
Jane Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I have the same hat for all three girls. We used to live near a Children’s Place outlet.
We should start a mother-daughter BlogHer!
Loved the little trail narrative. It captures her perfectly.
Oh man… Can you hear me LAUGHING over here?!? She is cracking me up. Hey Mommy. Hey Mommy. Hey Mommy…
Mmm-hmm.
I had no doubts she would be a talkative one! I wonder who she gets it from?
Wow, that is incredible. I just can’t believe she can think of so much to say. I guess if she says every little thing that comes into her mind, it would be possible…
Thanks for the video!
My older daughter was a constant chatterbox, asking all kinds of questions, and then later giving me a playback of what she had accumulated and organized in her mind, punctuated with, “Right, Mommy?” after every other sentence.
My younger daughter, who had a series of ear infections, and then surgery to insert tubes in both ears, spoke about a dozen words by the time she was 2-1/1, and used gestures to get her older sister to tell us what she wanted. At that point we began to worry about whether her hearing had been damaged or not.
I also worried about how manipulative she had become with her sister. At that point, I demanded that she tell us directly what she wanted, and that her sister was forbidden to be her interpreter. After a couple of weeks of a battle of wills between us, she began speaking in complete sentences, asked as many or more questions than her sister had, and hasn’t shut up since. She can and will talk to anyone about anything. Every kid is an individual. Go figure!
Jane Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Yes, that “Right, Mommy?” can be so — so. ARGH. Yes, I heard you!
I’ve been surprised by how similar my daughters in some respects (never any symptoms with teething, large bladders, good sleepers) and so different in others (when they talk, how they respond to cajoling, etc). And one of the best things is watching how they interact with each other.
LOL, I’ve always wished I could get my boys to talk more. But maybe I’m lucky….no really, she is so cute! In church my boys don’t talk as much as make noise…..can you please be a very loud vrooming car after the sacrament sweetie?
Ohmygoodness! Are you sure that’s your Spot and not my M? Sure, M probably has an Aussie accent, and Spot has an American one, but apart from that (anve given you can’t see Spot’s lustrous hair, because M is yet to have a hair cut, and it’s not because I think she’s a modern day female Samson!)
We’ve never had a video camera, but are starting to think we should get one. I wonder if you saw videos of my M doing the fun, 2.5 yo stuff that she and Spot do, if you’d think “Wow, M’s so like Spot – and yet they’re both their own wonderful unique selves!”.
Jane Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
This and my other videos (besides the Wa-taah challenge thing) were taken on our point-and-shoot digital camera. So they’re not very high quality and the sound is quiet, but it’s so much easier to carry the p&s around, and to upload from it.
Would love to get together with you and M someday — preferably in Australia!!!
Love the intermittant “yeah” responses from you. I do the same thing. Is it bad to confess that often I’m not even listening, but am rather in my own little daydream which involves nice chocolate, a nap, and a good book or movie.