I am amazed at how Jianna’s language has been developing at a very rapid rate. I remember back when she was 18 months, I would wonder when she would start speaking clear phrases and complete sentences. Then, lo and behold, she’s barely 20 months and she’s already spoken some complete sentences, and is constantly correcting herself.

Last week, while I was checking out the accessories at Topshop, she was at the bangles area and suddenly called out to me “I like this bangle”. The following day, as I was trying on shoes at Central World, she took one shoe, held it close to her cheek and said, “Mommy, I like these shoes.” This tells me just one thing: that this little girl is bound to be one hell of a shopper.

What I’m happy about though is that she tries to speak better each time. When she says something that is not really in the proper form, she repeats it in the correct form. Like when we stepped off a bus, she commented, “Oh no, hot.” And then she said it twice over, ”Oh no, it’s hot”, placing the emphasis on “it’s”. On another occasion, I asked her if she wanted more of something and she said “more”, but then she corrected herself and said “Give me.”

Lastly, she remembers to say “Please”, “Thank you” and “Sorry”. The other day, as I was browsing at Asia Books and left her coloring at the kid’s section with a friend, she came up to me, saying “Sorry” over and over again, so I knew she must have done something to hurt someone. I went over to her friend and asked if Jianna hurt her. The little girl told me that Jianna didn’t hurt her but pulled on her pigtails. So I told her that Jianna was sorry about it and asked Jianna to say sorry to her friend and not to me, and this she did.

All these remind me that indeed full-time motherhood has its pay-offs. Yes, it may be a most demanding job but it’s a very high-paying one, too!

*acknowledging David Sedaris for the title of this post from his book of the same title.