Out of Max's Mouth

When Max was younger, he didn’t talk. He felt it was much easier to communicate by screaming. He didn’t even say Mommy until after 18 months.

But now that he’s 2 years and 4 months, he has finally discovered the power of speech, and the boy won’t shut up! In just the past few months, he’s gone from stringing one or two words together to speaking in comprehendible phrases and even complete sentences. He also likes to question everything we’re doing, especially if it’s something we’re not including him in.

“What you doing Mommy?”
“Making dinner.”
“Oh, making dinner?”
“Yes Max”
“I help.”

Some of his more entertaining phrases are as follows:

“I made this.” And when I ask what his scribbles are, he usually responds with, “I made Mommy!” (and if you saw how frazzled I’ve been looking lately, you’d understand that he really did draw an accurate picture of me).

“I NEED that back.” Because he really NEEDS the fork I’m eating with, or the cell phone I’m talking on, or the car keys.

“Cameron HIT me.” To which Cameron truthfully responds that Max hit him first, but that’s no matter to Max. When I ask him if he hit Cameron, he just changes the emphasis to, “Cameron hit ME!”

“Ella is naughty.” He loves having someone else to point to who may be doing something wrong. If Ella’s eating paper, or tearing a book or heading toward the bathroom to play in the toilet, Max runs over to her, yells, “NO ELLA! NO!” and then informs me of her bad behavior.

And my favorite, which he learned after a week in Florida: “Daddy, I need money!”