Mommy Confessions: Say What?

You know how most of the time "outsiders" cannot understand toddlers? The parents usually understand and they have to translate. Well here is my confession: A good deal of the time I have no idea what my 2-year old daughter "E" is saying.


Examples: The other day while taking a walk through the neighborhood we were strolling ppast a house under construction. There was a Hispanic construction worker standing by the curb and as we walked past E pointed and yelled "dark! dark!" I was MORTIFIED. I thought she was calling the man "dark." It finally dawned on me; she was saying "truck." Thank god, but I was still walking very fast at this point (and saying “Yes! That is a truck.” really load).

Here is another one (fortunately less embarrassing, however very maddening): For a long time I thought she was saying "doggie" when she was really asking for a cookie. Needless to say this causes endless frustration on BOTH our parts. She would get so mad at me and I thought the whining would be endless. Since this request was repeating about 47 times per day I finally figured it out. Unfortunately for E, my understanding of the question has not changed the answer and her request if most frequently denied. At least by me, I have a feeling that CJ often hands over the cookies.

A lot of the time I can piece it together by the context of the situation, but when she gets to babbling and talking fast CJ and I just look at each other and shrug. We have no clue. Several words all sound the same, like dark and truck for example.

I guess it is a learning process for all of us. Sometimes I feel guilty like I am doing something wrong. What parent doesn't know what her kid is saying? I'm not going to worry too much though...I just keep telling myself that this too shall pass. Like most things, it is a phase and eventually we'll be able to communicate better. When she is a teenager I will probably think of these days nostalgically.