The family sat down to dinner this week. We even pulled Darby's car seat up to the table so we could keep an eye on him, but at this point, Casey's the superior conversationalist.
We struggle a bit with keeping his outbursts appropriate. When he runs low on food or milk, he's more likely to scream "MORE! MORE!" than he is to ask for "more, please." We make him say please anyway, but he never thinks to ask nicely before we tell him to -- it's always straight to the yelling. He does that when he wants to escape, too. Everyone's sitting within a four-foot radius, and he's screaming "ALL DONE!" Charming.
But he's got another verbal habit: he often repeats the last word or two of any phrase he hears. So I'll be talking to Erika, and he'll parrot some part of what I said. Then she'll answer, and he'll imitate whatever he picked out of her phrases.
This time I had a brainstorm, which I quickly shared with Erika. We could use the way he repeats phrases to demonstrate the appropriate way of asking for things. That might be a good idea, Erika said. I replied, "Yeah. Now go get me a soda, woman." Casey didn't disappoint: "So-uh! Woo-en!"
