Come play with me at the zoo

Chloe has a new favorite toy.  It's one of those noise makers that you buy for everyone else's kid but hate to have in your own house because it makes the same sounds and plays the same songs over and over and over and over.   It has lots of primary colored buttons with animals all over them.  Supposedly, it's like taking a trip to the zoo for a two year old.  Push on the red button with the penguins face and hear "I'm a tiny little penguin, waddling here, waddling there."  You know the kind of toy I'm talking about.

Chloe absolutely friggin loves this thing.  We hear it so much that I find myself whistling its tunes during my day at work. --- Don't judge me, you've done it too, admit it.---  What I realized recently is that with all the different functions of this toy, there are two messages that we hear nearly 10 times as often as the others.  "I'm a very friendly parrot.  Shouting out loud for all to hear."  and... "I'm a big and tall giraffe.  Standing so high I'm touching the sky!"

Now this kind of thing might just be coincidental if our two year old daughter was running around the house getting into everything and learning the word "no" like every other two year old in between the times she is asking mom and dad about the world around her.  But she's not.  Two things she can do and she is proud of:  stand (as long as she is holding on to a table or something) and shout.  There isn't a whole lot of other skills she has but she has these down pat and she is proud of herself and we are proud of her.

Maybe it IS just another annoying toy...but maybe it's more.  Maybe our little girl is living vicariously through her interactive zoo noisemaker the way grown ups live vicariously through books, movies and television.   "I'm a big and tall giraffe.  Standing so high I'm touching the sky!"  Maybe this is the only thing she has figured out how to use to give her a voice. We are making tiny baby steps toward her being able to use some type of communication device but the progress is very slow.

We eagerly look forward to the day when she can have some form of communication with us.  Until that day I think I'll enjoy every time I hear "I'm a very friendly parrot.  Shouting out loud for all to hear."