Speaking Sentences

"A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.' " -Barack Obama

Just yesterday, I heard my daughter make two very clear subject/verb/object sentences.  This is the second-simplest kind of sentence you can make in English, just one step more complicated than subject/verb (He ran), but is nonetheless impressive to me, because I hadn't heard her do it before.  She said "Mommy stacking blocks" and "E eating pickles fork."  It would have been nice to have a preposition and an article in that last sentence, but who's counting?

I love each little linguistic leap, it's so exciting to see.  In general, pediatricians say that children should be able to string two words together by age two, but that varies widely from kid to kid and is by no means set in stone.  It still makes me excited that Maeve can put three or four words together sensibly, it makes my mommy heart swell with pride and contemplate tuition at ivy league colleges.

Of course, when she's upset or throwing a tantrum, I keep reminding her to use her words, because she has a tendency, when emotional, to just scream, stamp, or fall on the ground, none of which are conducive to communication.  And often, any words she uses during tantrums are fairly unintelligible anyway, but we still try.

Because words are power, especially for a toddler.  The better she can communicate with me, the more likely it is I will give her what she wants... or at least be able to explain why she can't have it.

Maeve. Stuck. Box. Help.