The world according to O

So my boy became a man today...

HE SPEAKS!

Oliver has always been really talkative, but heaven knows that Al and I are the only ones who know what heck he's saying. His vocabulary is big and full of all sorts of wonderous words, but SO many of them have always sounded like this, "ba-ba!" We ALL know that "ba-ba" means, er...well, it means....let me give you an Ollie dictionary:

"Mama"=Mama
"Dadda"=Daddy
"Emmoo"=Elmo, Nemo, Oatmeal
"Cheet"=Treat
"Two-two!"=more of anything please
"uh-huh"=Please, yes, no
"sha-sha"=sorry
"Nayna"=Erin
"Tin"=Quinn
"Nanny"=Nanny McDonald
"Papa"=Papa McDonald
"Seesa"=Alisa
"Ta"=Tye
"Da"=Mike "Dough"
"gggggga" sound=Kitty
"Ba!" =Ball
"Jink"=Drink
"shoos"=Juice, shoes
"baboo"=bubble
"munty"=monkey
"sha"=shower
"Bap"=bath, up
"dat"=down
"woowoo"=woobie
"beet"=binkie,blankie
"tish"=shirt
"pfft" sound=fart

Okay, you get the idea.

Anyway, TODAY was a big day at the Boulter house. The last few days I've been playing the "Ollie saaaaaaaaaaay _______" game with him. He'll attempt to repeat what I say as best he can. Everything sounds exactly like written above. Today I started adding some new words. I said, "Ollie saaaaaaaaaaay SUNSHINE."

And he said............"SUNSHINE!"

It was totally clear and I thought I was hearing things. So I asked him again. He said "SUNSHINE!" I screamed "hooray!" and he got so excited. (A little positive reinforcement goes a long way with O.) So for the last 2 hours he's been running around the house saying "sunshine sunshine sunshine" over and over and over again.

I must say this momentous occasion excites me for 2 reasons.

1. The language barrier will finally be broken and Ollie will soon be able to ask for exactly what he wants.

2. I can start teaching him hilarious things to say to strangers and embarrass Daddy.