Chatty one

At a few months shy of 3 years old, Ronan continues to delight us every day with his new topics of conversation and evolving ways of expressing his thoughts and feelings. He learns so much from the teachers and other kids at school. Here are some of his favorite phrases and questions.

1. Did you hear the thumber? (We watched a Thomas the Train episode with thunder and lightning, and though scared of the noise, he was also intrigued by the "thumber." He thinks "thumber" is a very loud sound made by a very large train...)

2. Mommy, Daddy, do you remember ____ ? (I think this comes from US saying to HIM all the time, Ronan do you remember our trip to Tahoe? Do you remember the toy store in Canada? It's our subconscious attempt to see if he'll remember all the fun times we share when he's older... He's adopted that inquiry approach and asks us all the time now if we remember things like the zoo, the bunny, the tractor, the garbage man, the kids at the playground....)

3. Tell me the story about Ronan and The Polar Express! (Every night before bed, he asks Daddy to tell him several versions of a story where Ronan is the main character chasing the train in The Polar Express.)

4. Tell me the story about Ronan falling down and hurting his leg and going to the hospital. (He's fascinated with injuries, hospitals, doctors, stretchers, and people helping people.)

5. READ! (We've allowed him to get in the habit of reading books during meals, and for a long time now, he's been very attached to us reading to him. He sits down, digs into his meal, and orders us to read. We've started to hide the books during mealtime so that we can also have the option of talking to each other... but he still demands, "READ the yellow monkey book! READ!!")

6. I don't want to read that book, Daddy! That has no pictures! That has songs. (For some reason, he's picky about some of his books and has decided that some have no pictures even though 99% of them are chock full of pictures. No use arguing on this one. He's firm.)

7. HEY... What you talking about it? (Not quite Arnold-style, but it comes out very funny indeed. This is his common question when we're having a conversation about a topic that has - gasp! - nothing to do with him. He'll interrupt us several times and then he'll tell us to stop talking and pay attention to him. Clever little boy.)

8. Mommy/Daddy, you fat? (Another hilarious question. We usually answer, "Why yes, honey, I'm fat but I hope to be thin like you one day...")