No Words

When you have your first baby, you try to do all the right things by reading all the right books. One thing that I did with Elina was talk to her all the time. By talking to your baby often, you increase her exposure to language and encourage her to talk. Heeding the advice of experts, I narrated everything--I mean, everything. "I'm going to change your diaper now." "Here I am, making your rice cereal." "Mommy is going to go to the bathroom now." Initially, I felt like a fool, but I got over it real quick. It became second nature to me. Now I respond to all of Elina's questions and statements. With her statements, I just confirm what I hear so that I don't misunderstand her words.


Some days it gets tiring. Sometimes I don't feel like responding to mere statements. But Elina won't have it.


Elina: [as I'm putting on her shorts] Mommy, my shorts are blue.
Me: [I remain silent because I'm not in the mood to respond. I'm tired.]
Elina: [taking a moment to look at me with this strange facial expression] Mommy, talk.
Me: [snapping back to reality] Oh, sorry. Yes, your shorts are blue.
Elina: [smiling happily because things are back to normal] Yeah, they are!


Well, the funny thing is that I don't talk to poor Eli at all. It's really quite sad. Because my day is filled with toddler talk, when it's just me and Eli, I barely say a word. I didn't notice it until the other day when I was feeding him solids while Elina was getting ready for bed with B. I was by myself and Eli was in the highchair. I was methodically spooning food into his mouth. Suddenly, I noticed that there had been dead silence since Eli started eating. Silence has become soothing to me and I had forgotten myself. I quickly start speaking to Eli in an animated voice. "Do you like your sweet potatoes? They're yummy aren't they??" (Nice try. I'm sure Eli already knew what I was attempting to cover up.)

Poor Eli. He probably wouldn't even say his first word until he was 5, if he had to rely on me. Compounding the silent situation is the fact that Eli is a boy and boys tend to speak a little later than girls. But thankfully, I have the ultimate chatterbox, Elina. I know that Eli will learn all his words from Elina. His first word will not be "mama" or "dada." I mean, I've only said "mama" to Eli a handful of times. I used to say it to Elina ALL THE TIME. I doubt Eli even knows that I am his "mama." Eli's first word will be "Elina" or "Ellie." I guess that's what siblings are for.