Toddler Talk

I know he will grow out of it soon, but I am trying to commit to memory (and video) all the surprisingly wonderful things Mr. C does daily. Our bedtime routine seems to be a rich time for these goodies.  Here are a few recent examples that just made me smile.

– He is pretty good at make-believe conversations with his Little People characters (and animals).  I usually don’t understand much and it’s almost always when he’s playing by himself.  When we play with them together I usually have to do all the dialogue.  A couple nights ago in the tub he stuck the toy boat “Captain” on his finger, faced him straight at me, and started asking me questions in a deep voice.  Hilarious and brilliant!

– Our routine usually includes a bedtime prayer where I say short phrases which he repeats.  It always starts with “Dear God… please watch over… my friends and family…especially (and then the list of names).”  Last night he spit out “especially” all by himself before I prompted him… big word for a 26-month-old and I could tell exactly what he said.

– Last but not least, and probably my favorite, are the songs.  A year or so ago a good friend of mine confided her trick to get her 2-year-old to sleep was adding a song to her routine.  I just added this and am so thankful she shared that!  Mr. C sings a lot, and usually I can initially only identify the song by the tune then slowly begin to decipher the words as he continues.  Like many toddlers some consonants are difficult, so the Itsy Bitsy Spider sounds like the ih-hee bi-hee pie-her…you can see why it might be hard to guess what he’s singing.  If you need some ideas for your little one some of our other favorites are the ABCs, five little monkeys, ring around the rosy, hush little baby, don’t say a word…, and this last one, which I have no name for but it really calms him down and he usually rolls right over and closes his eyes when we’re done:  (sing the same note) there were 10 in the bed, and the little one said, “roll over…roll over”, so they all rolled over and one fell off there were 9 in the bed and the little one said… repeat and go slower and quieter until there’s one in the bed and he says “goodnight”.

Do you have any favorite songs or bedtime tips that helped you with toddlers or even older children?