Can I bend your ear for a bit?

When Ira was nearly 2, I was seriously concerned about his speech.  He said very few words and had only strung together a 3 word sentence a couple times.  It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, because we talked all the time.  We talked about everything.  And it wasn't like he was mute or anything - he just didn't say much.  I think he was just waiting until he could talk like us, because shortly after he turned two, he started talking in full 5,6,7... word sentences.  He's only paused to take a breath a few times since...

I think part of it is the nature of the beast of being an only child for so long.  Part of it is that I too talk a lot.  And part of it is just his personality.  He is a kid with lots to say.  We've written down "Ira-isms" since he was 2.  We keep a little pad of paper in the desk and when he says something particularly hilarious, Andy and I will look at each other and say "Write that one down."  Ira's caught on, so now when he says something that results in uproarious laughter from Andy and I he'll say, "Write that down!"  We usually include a few of them in our Christmas letters, but I thought I'd share a few of our recent favorites.


"Mom, where's that place that you give junk away that people don't need?" 

"Huh!  16 o'clock!  I stayed up LATE!"

and "How do you say konnichiwa in Spanish?"

It really is fun having a kid that talks so well and understands so much.  It does make it a little difficult for Andy and I to talk to each other though.  Because he does understand so much so well.  It's why we rarely (ever?) have the TV on in our house when he's up.  It really is good for us all though.  Andy and I were just talking this morning about how little there is on TV that is appropriate for kids to watch - and I think that's true whether you just get over-the-air channels or whether you have 200 channels (granted it's a little easier to find something appropriate with 200 channels, it's just not worth the money to us.)  Perhaps I'm just a stick in the mud though because he's our first and he's still young...

Back to the subject of talking though, Ira has been SOOOOOOO talkative lately.  And not really conversational-talkative either.  Like yesterday morning, he talked for 13 minutes straight - I was scarcely able to interject a "how interesting."  I'm not really even sure if he took a breath.  It's CrAzY!  And while funny for awhile, by the end of the day, I was glad that Andy's parents were over for dinner so he could talk to (at?) someone else!