“…Wanna come?”

My kids have always been talkers.  I like to think that my actions had something to do with it but sometimes I wonder.  

When my kids were young, I enjoyed spending my day rambling to them about what we were doing.  I think if someone was passing by they would have thought I had gone crazy just by listening to me.  I would give a play by play of diaper time, “Ok, I’m just going to put you on the change table and pull off your sleeper.  Oh, I think it’s time for a new sleeper.  Now I’m going to take off your dirty diaper so you can have a nice clean one,” or bath time, “Well, I have to get the water ready first so you lay in your crib while I grab the bathtub and fill it up.  There, the water is just right.  Are you ready?”  Or even bedtime had some type of play by play up until story time and then my horrible voice belting out some song.  Strangely enough, “Crazy” by Patsy Cline was always a top hit for bedtime songs.  That and ”Baby Beluga,” “The Unicorn” and countless other ones all sung in my slightly off-key voice.  All of this started the first few days after they came home.

I think part of the reason that I talked to my kids so much wasn’t that I thought they were really listening, although studies have proven otherwise, it was just so I could hear a voice during my long day without any other adult contact.  Sure I would get out but there were stretches of time where I was sequestered to the house.  By the time both of my boys were 2, they were having full give and take conversations (probably because they needed to shut me up somehow) and everyone they met would comment, “Wow, they’re really verbal.”

Of course, this ability to express themselves did have it’s downsides with debates, arguments and they seemed to have mastered the art of sarcasm at the young age of 3, but in other ways it is wonderful since I know what they want right away. 

The whole reason behind this musing is the simple fact that just the other day I noticed how some of my speech mannerisms and sayings have been picked up by the kids.  At one point, I used “actually” in my speech, quite a bit actually, and now this seems to be the favorite word for my 3 year old son.  He can’t go a day without saying it at least 20 times and I think half of his indecision is due to the fact that he wants to say his favorite word, “Actually, I would like a drink of water…actually, no, I would actually like a drink of milk…actually, I think I actually want water.”  (I didn’t exaggerate, this is actually how he talks sometimes.)

My oldest son picked up the word “Sweeeeeet” from school or somewhere and quickly everything that he liked was “Oh, sweeeeet!”  My youngest also picked up this awesome word and whenever I am in a toy store, I am followed around the aisles by two children shouting, “Oh, sweeeeet!”

There are also a few sayings that I picked up from my mom and I found after answering hundreds of questions that started with “What,” “Why,” and “Where,” I began using them.  When I asked “What’s for dinner,” when I was a kid, my mom would say “Fried Farts and Onions.”  I learned to stop asking the question and occasionally I will say it to my kids.  Usually I will say it when it is something they like and I don’t (cue chicken nuggets please) and they will say, “Awesome…we’re having…”  I don’t use it too often but my own son has used it back on me when I asked him what he would like for a snack…the answer that I received, “Fried Farts and Onions.”

Lastly, when I am going somewhere (usually the store) with the kids and they ask “Where” I will reply, ”Crazy, wanna come?”

This gets huge groans from my oldest since he prefers to get a straight answer but my youngest just rolls with it.  It wasn’t until yesterday when I was getting ready to go for a walk that I realized exactly what my youngest son thinks “crazy” is.  Right after I said, “Crazy, wanna come,” he asked, “Oh, which crazy is it?  The one with toys (Toys R Us) or Walmart?”

So “crazy” to my son means shopping and after having been to both of those stores, I don’t think he is wrong.

 What sayings have your kids picked up?  What sayings do you use that you picked up from your parents?

Tags: Between Parents, Children, Language, mannerisms, sayings

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