Colin has had a recent breakthrough with his communication skills.
You may remember many months ago he was well on his way to talking - learning new words and saying them frequently - as well as babbling in his very own dialectic form of Toddlerese.
Then it virtually stopped .
He decided to use a handful of words and sound effects (his preferred choice ) to get across his meaning- and that's it . He refused to use the words i know he already learned - lovely little words like 'flower' and 'squirrel' and 'owl' . Instead when prompted - either while reading together or seeing something on the Telly or in the great outdoors - he would give a resounding " NOOOO" with a sly smile and an utter look of defiance in his brow.
It was as if he was afraid to make a mistake. If he couldn't say it perfectly ( to his own satisfaction - we would always clap no matter how close he got ) he wouldn't even bother trying to say a word. Oh , no ! Was this an early sign of perfectionism ?
It does run in the family ...
Sigh . This was frustrating but i took it as a sign of typical Toddler independence and since he understood nearly all we said to him ( and each other , it seems ) i backed off.
Since mothers are doomed to compare their offspring to others ( yes, even when you KNOW better ) i would think to myself , " well , he's ahead of so & so who is still basically grunting and he is behind you know who who knows all of the names for construction and transportation vehicles . So what ? He makes himself understood and is smart as a whip . He knows how to unlock doors and get himself a snack - what else does he need right now ? So we waited.
and waited. "Nooooooo. " ; )
Well , Mama seems to have offered the proper incentive. He has been enjoying drawing lately so i went out and got him the 64 piece set of Crayola's with the pencil sharpener ( yes he has figured out how to use the sharpener already, see? NOT dumb .)
So i decided to try something.
Me : " Look Collie , NEW crayons , do you like them ."
Him : "Umm Hmm" ( emphatically a Yes)
Me: Ok , Can you say CRAYONS and Mama will give them to you.
Him : NOOOOOOOOO. ; )
Me : Just say Cray- ons . Cray - ons , see ? Just like this - Cray - ons.
Him : CWAAAAYYY - OOONNNSSS.
Me : YES !!!!
He got his crayons and went to town.
So there you have it . A new word.
And many more have followed .
He has been saying new words in rapid -fire succession ever since.
So , who says you shouldn't bribe your kids ?
1 comment:
Aww, so cute story. I also love his "body art" -- magic markers?
My sister's littlest sort of did that same thing with speech and she wondered about perfectionism with him too. As a rule, he likes to observe rather than pitch in head first and could very well end up being the artistic one in their family too.
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