An Explosion

There has been an explosion at our house recently -- a language explosion, that is. Natalie and Amanda have had a large vocabulary for awhile, but at about 23 months they went from speaking in one-word statements to full-on sentences. And some of those sentences make us chuckle. Here are just a few:

• Natalie and Amanda's school is great at teaching good manners. While we try to emphasize "please" and "thank you" in our house, they are just more consistent about doing so at school. A good thing, of course. And Natalie and Amanda have both picked up on this. One of Natalie's favorite food is yogurt -- which she calls "oohh-gurt." So, we often hear "More oohh-gurt please" from her. But my favorite of the new manner-isms is Amanda's use of "thank you" and "welcome," which goes something like this. "Amanda, would you like more waffle?" Amanda: "More waffle, please." After giving her more waffle, her response: "thank you welcome" all rolled into one quick phrase.

• They recently have begun to appreciate good humor and will say, "That's funny, daddy" or "That's funny Na-nee." (Na-nee is what they both call each other. Originally short for "Natalie," I believe, but somehow Natalie decided it should be Amanda's "nickname," as well. So, they are both Na-nee to each other......)

• At nap time and bed time, now they tell us, "Bye bye mommy; bye bye daddy."

• Natalie loves soup and will often request it. After having oatmeal for breakfast once, she now requests "breakfast soup." I guess if it comes in a bowl, in her mind it must be soup!

• They have played "peek-a-boo" since they were little, but it's been revisited recently. We think maybe this is something they have been doing at school. Although it used to be "peek-a-boo," now they call it "peek-y-boo." Natalie will put her hands up to her eyes and walk around that way, all the while saying "peek-y-boo," "peek-y-boo." And, not to miss the action, Amanda will join her, but instead of putting her hands over her eyes, she puts them over her mouth and walks around saying "peek-y-boo mommy," "peek-y-boo" daddy." It looks a little bit like this: