Baby "J"

Yesterday we took a walk up the street to our neighborhood park. I love the fact that we do not have to get into the car and it's only a two minute walk from our house. You can literally see the park from our house and vice versa ... what a luxury with four kiddos :)

Anyways, while at the park playing we noticed a little boy around Emma's age enter the playground with his mom. He stood out to me because he was talking .... A LOT. Like non-stop. Saying words such as : "garbage", "baby" (while pointing to Emma, little did I know Emma is older than him!), "rocks", "lunch", "slide", etc. You get my point, this kid was talkin' up a storm (and fully understandable). I had to know more.

I asked his mother how old he is. "Jasper is 20 months and your daughter must not be far behind". Ummm .... "actually Emma is 23 months, turning 2 years in July".

Grace's eyes practically bugged out of her head upon hearing this bit of info. She mouths to me "OMG ... he's younger than Emma!"

C'mon Emma say something so she believes me. Pick any one of those five words you yell all day that only your mama can understand. Anything, Emma, anything!

"Wow", I said. "Jasper is talking so much." Jasper's mom responds "Oh yes, he talks all the time. He says just about anything. I taught him sign language at six months old. He communicated through sign as a baby and now he is fully talking. We don't watch any television either. Jasper only listens to Pandora radio. You should think about teaching your infant sign language."

Ouch.

Well, Mrs. Mother to a linguistically gifted child. FYI: Emma has a "universal sign", as I like to call it, which entails a high pitch scream followed by clenching her entire body and turning beet red. This "universal sign" means she could want about just anything in the entire room and you have to keep guessing (ie: running around like a crazy person) until you get it right. Although, being her mama, I usually know what she wants.

I was about ready to leave.

Upon leaving I say to Emma "okay Em's time to go home and eat lunch". Which ended with me chasing her around the park while quietly bribing her with popsicles and ice cream. I then hear J's mom say: "okay Jasper we are leaving in five minutes to have lunch. I want you to think about that and be ready when I say your five minutes are up."

Hmph... defeated. Perhaps I should try that technique with my littles.

Em's may not be talking too much, or listening to me for that matter, but she's mine and I love her to pieces.

And maybe, just maybe, Baby J's mom will eventually encounter some challenging parenting years too.