And then....

Little P is a talker. I know I've said it before, but it bears mentioning again because of what happened this morning.

My baby girl likes to have conversations - doesn't matter who with. Me, Daddy, her friends, her toys... complete strangers. They don't make any sense, at least not to me, but she enjoys them, so I play along. There are, of course, times when I wish she wasn't. Those times when we are driving and she insists on doing a running commentary on what she sees. Or asks questions on where we are going and who will be there. And then repeats the whole series till we get to where we are going.

Today however, I met a little girl who has her beat. Big time.

Having gone through a bit of a growth spurt, and with the weather getting cooler, Little P was in dire need of long pants that actually fit her. So off we go to try and find some for her. We have some success at store number one, but I was determined to get enough to get her clothed through the winter, so to store number two we go. And this is where we meet Miss Ana.

I heard her before I actually saw her. We were in the same area where her and her Mommy where. And all I could hear was 'What's this?' 'Oh, this is cute. I really need this.' 'Mommy! Look. It's Mickey.' Times this by about 100 and you get the idea. I swear, the entire time we were there she didn't stop talking, and I don't think she once drew a breath.

Looking at her Mom, I understood that this was just another ordinary day for them. I ran into them again in the Halloween section of this store. About ten minutes had passed and it looked like it had been a very long ten minutes for her Mommy. Eye contact was made and I said 'Long morning?' She looked as me, sighed, and said 'Long year.' We started talking and it turned out that Miss Ana had a twin brother, Master Adam, and he too was a talker. Apparently they haven't stopped talking since they learnt how to verbalize. That was about four years ago.

While their Mommy is glad that they are both happy kids (they were premmie babies) and that they are far from shy or introverted, there are days when she would love it if they just sat quiet every once and a while. From the time they get up, to the time they go to sleep (and even then they are apparently making noises) there is a constant stream of chatter going on. The only time they are quiet is when they are at school (she can't hear them, but the teacher tells her they are quiet and attentive until called upon) - she swears it's only because someone else is louder than them. Reading stories, they have to speak the words out loud. Watching a movie they comment on just about everything that is happening, so much so that they sometimes have to watch a movie two or three times just to understand the story.

'After a while, it just becomes white noise, and I only respond when they actually ask me a question.' Talk about a coping mechanism. And she has two other kids. The older two are much quieter - she thinks it's because there's already enough noise in the house, there's no way they could compete. And why add to the confusion?

Hearing her talk about her day to day life, I empathized with her, and felt a little relief that at least Little P isn't that bad. She enjoys quiet time just as much as I do.

Till next time, well, you know, enjoy the quiet time. You never know when it's going to end.

K