It’s no secret that toddlers are quite possibly the most adorable things on the planet. Between their wide eyed curiosity, contagious giggles, random outburst, and incredible sense of adventures it’s hard to pin point just what makes them tick. I’m fortunate to be allowed into these little minds and I’d like to share some funny experiences with you!

It was little Sally’s first time at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, she was about 16 months old at the time and had already had an incredible vocabulary and a broading intellect that was challenging at times to maneuver around with a toddler.

So we’re enjoying the exhibits and we venture downstairs where the aquarium is. Sally becomes obsessed with these weird translucent floating objects in one to the tanks.
She points to it, looks at me and says, “Iko (a nickname she used for me), what is it?”
I said, “It’s a jellyfish, Sally, they live in the ocean.”
She smiles, stares a little more and then moves on to the next animal.
Fast forward to later in the week and I ask Sally what she would like for lunch. She says, “Ummm peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich, please!”
I begin to laugh and Sally says, “What? What’s wrong?” My laugh then turns into hysterics, that this little one had generalized “jellyfish” to “jelly” and from then on she would only ask for peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches.

Every morning the first thing Little B’s parents and I do is make a cup of coffee. It’s a routine, one that she has seen since the day of her arrival. One day as I’m arriving for work, Little B’s Mother tells me to “Watch this!”. Her Mother asks her what the coffee machine is called, and little B (who was not even 1 yet) starts coughing. It takes me awhile, but then I get it. She had translated “coffee” to “cough” in her little mind. So every time we made and drank coffee she would point to it and start coughing.

It’s just so funny to see how little ones learn new words, and also how those new words are used by them. I have a stutter when I speak, and little Emily when she was about 2.5 noticed it one day and asked me why I spoke funny.
I explained to her the best I could by saying, “Well, sometimes the words get stuck in my mouth and it takes me longer to get them out.”
“Oh”, she says and goes on with her playing.
A few weeks later I’m with the girls again, and little Emily says outloud to everyone in the room (to her parents and I, after I had stuttered on a word), “Oh Mari, do you have a stick stuck in your throat again?!?!”
She got the gist of it…I think!! 🙂