What did you say?

Liam's talking away non-stop now and Jaime and I just spend our days in fits of laughter! He mixes English, Spanish and Catalan in his own special way and it’s just sooooo funny! The mistakes kids make while they’re learning are far funnier than I’d every imagined.

For example, Liam thinks “already” is some sort of verb structure! When I came home from work the other day he said: “Mammy. Are you finished working?” “Yes, darling”, I replied. “Good. No work now Mammy because you already”. If you ask him to wash his hands, he’ll probably say, “No, I already”! Some day the penny will drop and he’ll realise that these sentences are incomplete but in the meantime I find it sooo cute and funny!

Another funny one is the way he says “lotsen” instead of “lots”. This is because he thinks “lots and lots and lots” is really “lotsen lotsen lotsen”, and so he says things like: “Mammy, I want lotsen ice-cream”!

Of course, what he has mastered best are all those sentences including “I don’t want to”. He sits down to supper and you can see on his little face the realisation that ‘Oh no, after this it’s the bedtime routine’, so he starts off: “I’m having my supper, Mammy, and then I don’t want to go to bed”. Or we’re out at the park or beach or zoo and we start gathering things together and putting Malachy into the buggy to head home, and he starts: “I don’t want to go home, Mammy. I want to just walk a little bit, OK?”.

And what’s got to be his funniest obsession is sequencing things and rattling off the little sequences incessantly: “Mammy, first we’ll go to the park and then we’ll play with the ball and then we’ll have an ice-cream and then we’ll go home, OK?”. (And, believe me, he remembers the order and tries to make us stick to it!).

Another big favourite is wanting to do doing things by himself: YO SOLO!!! Things that he couldn't possibly do like slicing open a melon with the big knife or opening our front door with the big old stiff key or carrying Malachy or frying sausages….! “I can do it, Mammy!!!”

Oh, but how could I forget his all-time favourite word? The one that he repeats at least three thousand times a day?: “WHY?”… For instance Liam will ask: “Where’s Malachy?”. “He’s asleep,” I reply. “Why?” enquires Liam. “Because it’s his nap time,” I respond. “Why?” he continues to probe. “Because he needs to have a rest”. “But, why?” he continues. “So that he can play again later”. “But WHYYYY?”… After one of these interrogation sessions the other day I just ran out of inspiration and fell silent with a sigh. Liam looked at me entirely stumped and asked: “Because you said so, Mammy?”… “Yes, because I said so Liam”!!!!

We spend our time humouring him, making deals and reaching compromises…

I watch Malachy taking it all in!

God help us when he starts too!