Making me laugh – my chatty girl

Last weekend I went shopping with Ellie and her grandma and granddad – it was a relatively short shopping trip which is about all I ever want to do to be honest. Anyway, at one point not long into our trip my Dad turned to me with a huge grin on his face (and a touch of exasperation) and exclaimed ‘she doesn't stop’! It took not even a nano second for me to realise that he was referring to Ellie’s talking and as the shopping trip continued it became a source of much amusement.

What I realised is that this isn't anything new but I’m attuned to Ellie’s chatting or should I say tuned out to it?! Or probably a mix of the two.

At one point mid shopping I was suddenly aware of Ellie shouting loudly, so eventually we all stopped to listen. Ellie paused (clearly to check we were actually listening) and then proceeded. The conversation went like this:

‘Well I have an idea.’ <pause> ‘Why don’t grandma and granddad go to the shop they need to and we’ll go to the shop we need too and then we meet up.’ I replied ‘that’s a great idea Ellie but since grandma and granddad want Boots and so do we – why don’t we go together?’ Ellie didn't miss a beat before replying that was OK then.

Apparently that was important enough to have been shouting at three adults.

That of course didn't stop her chatting. She then gave a commentary to what she could see in the shop. When in the car she gave a commentary about what she could see out of the window, or what we would do when we got where we were going. When back at my parents house I had a running commentary of what grandma and granddad were both doing. You get the picture.

So, it wouldn't be fair to say that Ellie chat’s a lot … she simply doesn't stop. Learning to wait to speak is something we are still working on, but I have to say that secretly I’m actually fond of her chattiness and not ashamed to say that she probably inherited that trait from me.

What I do think is that her talkative nature means that she’s very quickly developing an answer for everything (and answering back). I’m fairly sure this isn't unusual for a 5 year old but since she’s my only 5 year old I’m just guessing. Anyway, for your amusement, I thought I’d finish this post by sharing some of her best one liners in recent days. They amused me either at the time…or of course a little while later!

• When told I’d have a cuddle in just one minute and five minutes had passed - ‘Mummy – you promised to sit with me so please stop working now.’

• When asking her to hurry up and finish cleaning her teeth for the fourth time - ‘I’m going to tell you off if you say that again.’

• When asked to say sorry after being naughty – ‘ You've been naughty too mummy telling me off, so you say sorry.’

• When told 45 minutes after bedtime to get to sleep NOW! – ‘Well mummy, listen, I can’t sleep but I’ll just count things or something then.’

• When watching Charlie and Lola and I stated that we’d seen it before – ‘I haven’t mummy…have you been watching it when I’m not here?’

• When giving me a rundown of her school day (for those of you who don’t remember, this never used to happen but chattiness is now extended to an after school report!) – ‘and the children kept standing on my hands and feet too’! I have to add that I have still no understanding of what she was talking about – even after much probing but she wasn't on the floor, she didn't tell the teacher and it didn’t really hurt?!

• Now I have to admit I’m sneaking this one in although it’s one from a while ago but I can’t resist. When showing her uncle where the cello tape and glue was kept - ‘I’m only allowed in here when Mummy isn't looking’

• Of course my favourite line from Ellie is as always ‘I love you mummy’.

When I read this post through it’s actually a pretty good summary of life with Ellie – it requires lots of energy, causes considerable frustration but is lots of fun and full of love.

I’d love to hear about anyone else’s chatty children and what they have to say so please do get in touch either via twitter (@sharonmsmyth) or by leaving a comment on this post.