Just Had to Share!

We are having an explosion of language this week! And some very funny things that I just had to share!

The other day, we were in my car, and I'm talking to Tim on the cell. He had another call at work and had to hang up. I told him to call me back when he could. Joy says from the backseat, "Mama, in Taiwan, not nice." I'm trying to figure out what wasn't nice - what I said to Tim or that he couldn't talk. So I'm trying to explain to her what was going on.

She bursts out, pretty loudly, "Mama, you have to stop! Stop, Mama, you have to stop!"

I'm trying not to laugh out loud, and she continues with, "Stop talking! Mama, my head....no.....my, my, my brain....hurt!!"

So basically, I was talking too much and her brain hurt from all the new words! She wouldn't let me talk at all for about 10 minutes! It was hysterical!


Joy really doesn't like it when people are talking and she can't understand. Or maybe it's when she's not the center of the conversation? In either case, she can get pretty upset.

The other day at lunch, she flatly told us, "Joy want to talk!" So we gave her the floor, but then the words wouldn't come. She was SO frustrated! We tried to help by asking her questions, but laughter seemed the best solution.

There are so many things she's trying to tell us. I hear about 2 or three times a day, "In Taiwan...." and then something about what she did or ate. I don't always understand what was that happened there, but we are beginning to put some puzzle pieces together. Her foster parents were very doting and loving with her, but also pretty stern and scary at times. I guess all parents are like that at times - especially when she's trying to escape in the parking lot!

One of the funniest things she says, still is "Joy love you this" and then fill in the blank - food, activity, feeling, thing. She still uses Joy instead of "I" most of the time, but it's beginning to creep in. We're getting full sentences though a good bit of the time. But there are so many verbs that change, it's confusing. Like "Look at that Joy!" she understands. But you don't say "I look it" back. "I see it" is there in her head, but if I say, "look" first, she forgets. When you think about it, there are tons of verbs that change between a command and the response!

One of my favorites is "Hold Stiff!" for hold still. I know that our consonants are sometimes hard to distinguish, so I'm not worried about the M's and N's and such. But to hear the L's as F's is really strange. She's certainly heard me say "Hold still!" enough times, and I'm working on enunciating the L's, but she always says, "hold stiff" when she's playing. Hard not to laugh!

There are dozens of other little gems that pop out, but I can't remember them all! I'm trying to write them down, but hard when I'm driving! I thought I'd share the few I can remember!