Monday, September 15, 2008

She's got questions . . .

Lately Chloe has been our question asker. Just like the slogan, "You've got questions, we've got answers," (is that Best Buy? Or Home Depot? I couldn't remember! You can tell I haven't seen commercials for about a year!) Chloe's been full of natural curiosity. Now that her speaking skills are finally improving, she can communicate to us her desire to know! Here's a sampling of her favorite questions of late:

"Mama, where's Daddy?" [spoken apparently for the sheer joy of using words since she can see Daddy in the same room]

"Where's Clara?" [see above]

"Where's Christin?" [and again, see above]

"Where's Ayi?" [meaning "auntie," our house helper Lou]

And then there's last week's favorite variation on this question: "Where's Peter?" [Peter is a friend and playmate and for some reason has become Chloe's favorite. After our trip away where we stayed in the same apartment as Peter and his family, Chloe latched on to Peter as her dear, dear friend . . . apparently. I'm not sure if he's aware of this!]

Another favorite question is the "What's this, Mommy?" question. She is acquiring new vocabulary so fast and trying her hand at many new words, both in English and in the local language. It usually follows a particular pattern.

For example, while watching me put a load of laundry in my dryer: "What's this Mommy?" "It's a button to turn the dryer off and on, Chloe." "Oh, button."

"What's this, Mommy?" "Those buttons let me choose how hot the dryer should be." "Oh, hot."

"What's this, Mommy?" "It's a diagram to tell me how to treat the clothes." "Oh, diagram."

The "Why" question has also been a favorite in recent days. Clara Anne has never really been a "why" question asker, she seems content with the explanations we give and doesn't ask for the reasoning behind it. However, Chloe has already discovered the joy of "why" and so, when asked appropriately, is giving me some challenges trying to explain things! Like I said, she wants to know!

It's been fun to see her really expanding her ability to speak, except, of course, for when she wants to use her new-found ability for wrong purposes! Tonight as I was trying to get her in bed, she insisted that she wanted to "Read books, Mommy! Books! My books!" I told her no, that it was nighttime and she needed to go to sleep, plus that it was so dark in her room that she couldn't see the books anyway. She said, "Open the curtains, Mommy?" Little stinker! No indeed, I am not going to open the curtains, and there will be no books in bed. Sorry Chloe!

Good try, though! As far as Chloe is concerned, it is always worth asking!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That is so funny about Chloe's question asking... because ever since we saw y'all, Anna has been asking about Chloe! I think part of it is that she loves saying her name. Mommy, where's Chloe? What's Chloe doing? Is she with her mommy and daddy? And on and on... so much so that I found myself telling stories about your family! How crazy is that! :) All because of a few days together!
Glad that Chloe has someone to talk about too!