Oliver's First Sentences
©2006 Gail Grenier Sweet
Last week, on Oliver’s visiting day, Mike was retrieving another dead mouse from the mousetrap cupboard. I forget sometimes that Oliver watches all, sees all, hears all. Mike and I must have been reacting pretty strongly to the dead mouse.
Suddenly a little but strong voice piped up from about 30 inches off the floor:
“Show me!”
It was Oliver -- his first unprompted sentence, as far as I know.
Mike showed Oliver the mouse. Oliver looked at it, hard. Then Mike threw the mouse outside.
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The following Monday, I came home from work to a message on my answering machine:
Oliver (like one long word): “Showmedamoney!”
Brian (babysitting): “In case you didn’t figure it out, that was Oliver’s version of ‘Show me the money.’ (to Oliver, louder) SHOW ME THE MONEY!”
Oliver (voice much higher, not much louder): “Showmedamoney!”
So Oliver’s first unprompted sentence is “Show me” and his first prompted sentence is “Show me the money.” There’s a theme there. Wonder how that will play out in Oliver’s life.
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