Busy Times

Time seems to slip by when life gets busy and months later, I'm wondering to myself how much my 2-year old has been talking when just 4-6 months ago, he barely said much. Over the last two months, my husband and I have been constantly marveling over how much he talks and in complete sentences. I must have noticed it a couple of months ago when he was playing with his wooden train tracks and exclaimed to me: "mama, look what I made!" Research has shown that the more time the TV is on in the background, the less words little kids hear in a day, and thus, slower verbal and cognitive development. Well, I think Elliot's exposure to words per day is less of a function of TV exposure (or the lack of) and more of a function of how much his older sister talks. I'm sure hearing her talk all day (and she's quite loquacious) had the most impact on his verbal development. Now, he says funny things like, "baba, you're funny" when my husband is being goofy, or "jea-jea (sister), you go to time out!" when he's mad at his sister. Other funny things that he says are more toddler-like. Six months ago, he used to call truck "fuck". He doesn't say it as much but I found it quite funny. Or when he wants to watch trucks on TV, he calls it "fuckin TV!" I wish there are easy ways to capture and archive the things they say (in their own voice) to save for eternity. Little things to look back on or otherwise I'll forget. I remember Scarlett used to say some pretty funny things too but all I remember now is her telling people to "ass" when she wanted people to sit. Maybe they're glad that their mother has a shoddy memory these days.