The Gibberish Treatment

Hayden isn’t old enough to give me the silent treatment. Instead, I think he’s giving me “the gibberish treatment.”

Yesterday at church, I was talking with one of my friends that watched Hayden while I was out of town. She said that Hayden had said a few things that really sounded like words—and even sentences!

• She went into the kitchen to make lunch and told Hayden to come along. He said, “I’m coming.”
• She told Hayden it was Caleb’s (her son’s) turn to play with something. Hayden said, “Turn?”
• She told Hayden to put the lid on his snacks and close them. He said, “Close it?”

I lamented to her that he never comes close to words when he’s jabbering at me. She smiled and said, “That’s ’cause you’re the mom—you’re supposed to know what he wants already!”

Strangely enough, I found this reassuring. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Over the last 16 months, I have come to know what Hayden likes and wants. He’s gradually finding ways to express it, too: he’s recent begun nodding and shaking his head. Not just randomly, but to communicate “yes” and “no.”

As I was buckling Hayden in his car seat today, and reassuring some of his whininess, when I suddenly realized, “Hey, I’m getting pretty good at this whole mom thing.”

It’s nice to have a smooth morning and that reassurance that I’m turning out okay as a mother, especially when Hayden’s got three teeth erupting ( 🙁 but at least he’s finally getting his last front teeth and molar) and just getting started in perfecting the fine art of tantrums.

I’ve mentioned before how hard it is to contemplate having another when you feel like you can barely handle this one, but the calm assurance that I really am doing okay does a lot to offset that—even if I really don’t know what Hayden wants.