The Terrible Twos
The terrible twos should be renamed. It's not terrible. It's frustrating. My son is now 30 months - 2 1/2. He's so incredibly frustrated. And that frustration is well earned, too. Certainly in my case, the "terrible twos" can be summed up in two T words: "terrible talking". The poor child is trying so hard to communicate orally, but just doesn't have the enunciation to be able to communicate effectively. He's trying so hard, my heart aches for him.
Attempt this: Novacaine your tongue and lips, and then attempt to read the Gettysburg address out loud. That's what a child at the age of two is attempting to overcome. His speech therapy is coming along, but simply not fast enough for my clever little boy. He knows exactly what he wants from the refrigerator. But he is completely unable to say "strawberry". Heck, he can't say the R's yet, so us trying to get him to say "berry" is just "Bah". That's fine, except he also loves Bananas and Bagels. So he says "Bah" when he wants a banana, or a bagel, or a strawberry, or blueberries, or bread. By the time I get to the third food on that list, he's begun to melt down in frustration that he can't tell me what he wants.
Thus begins the "nicknaming" of things. Thomas and Friends is simple: "Choo choo". He's got that down pat. He's begun to show awareness of his bowel movements, and when it hurts, he wants A&D Lotion. "Lotion" is unbelievably difficult for a toddler to say - in fact, anything multisyllabic or with adjoining consonants you can pretty much rule out, with the exception of "choo choo". So we 'renamed' the A&D lotion. It's now "goo". This was REALLY easy to teach him, since I make a silly voice and say "gooey gooey gooey gooey" and he starts cracking up. I was hoping it would help him with his g's, because they sound dangerously close to the 'ch' sound. Of course, he'll say "choooo" and then start laughing, so I know he's trying to say "goo" because he wants A&D on his little butt. So I guess it worked, to a degree. But it's difficult to find words that can easily be said by a 2-year old, are somewhat close to the real word, and of course, make some kind of sense. That's a tough bill to fill.
So I've been dealing with a very frustrated toddler, and playing 20 questions with him. "Want this?" "no". "how about this?" "no"... and on and on. What a life.
Attempt this: Novacaine your tongue and lips, and then attempt to read the Gettysburg address out loud. That's what a child at the age of two is attempting to overcome. His speech therapy is coming along, but simply not fast enough for my clever little boy. He knows exactly what he wants from the refrigerator. But he is completely unable to say "strawberry". Heck, he can't say the R's yet, so us trying to get him to say "berry" is just "Bah". That's fine, except he also loves Bananas and Bagels. So he says "Bah" when he wants a banana, or a bagel, or a strawberry, or blueberries, or bread. By the time I get to the third food on that list, he's begun to melt down in frustration that he can't tell me what he wants.
Thus begins the "nicknaming" of things. Thomas and Friends is simple: "Choo choo". He's got that down pat. He's begun to show awareness of his bowel movements, and when it hurts, he wants A&D Lotion. "Lotion" is unbelievably difficult for a toddler to say - in fact, anything multisyllabic or with adjoining consonants you can pretty much rule out, with the exception of "choo choo". So we 'renamed' the A&D lotion. It's now "goo". This was REALLY easy to teach him, since I make a silly voice and say "gooey gooey gooey gooey" and he starts cracking up. I was hoping it would help him with his g's, because they sound dangerously close to the 'ch' sound. Of course, he'll say "choooo" and then start laughing, so I know he's trying to say "goo" because he wants A&D on his little butt. So I guess it worked, to a degree. But it's difficult to find words that can easily be said by a 2-year old, are somewhat close to the real word, and of course, make some kind of sense. That's a tough bill to fill.
So I've been dealing with a very frustrated toddler, and playing 20 questions with him. "Want this?" "no". "how about this?" "no"... and on and on. What a life.
posted by Mama Padawan | 4:08 AM
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