Such Manners!

My 14 month old Little Miss has such lovely manners, I am proud to say.  I’ve always strived to have her be polite and want her one day to have proper table manners, when she sorts out how to not turn the spoon upside down as it’s approaching her mouth.  We’ll take it one day at a time with that one.

Anyway, Little Miss has taken to pointing and “mmm”-ing at something when she wants it.  God only knows what she wants sometimes…you end up pointing back at everything she seems to be aiming for until her eyes light up.  So, I decided to have a lesson.  One day after hearing one too many “mmm” ‘s at everything, I said, “Sweetheart, when you want something from Mummy, say PLEASE, not mmmm”.  Little Miss looked at me, put her hand to her mouth (Little Miss sign for PLEASE based on Makaton Justin on Cbeebies!) and said “Plee” which is how she says PLEASE.  Such an angel!  Now, anytime the “mmm” comes out, I say, “use your words” and she puts her hand to her mouth and says “Plee”.  I have such a clever girl.  Mind you, I still don’t always know what the heck she wants but at least she’s polite in the attempt. 

In addition to “plee” and the hand gesture, we also have been working on THANK YOU.  I’m not a huge fan of the word “ta”.  My American side comes out in this regard…I would rather have Little Miss say “Thank You” or nothing rather than “Ta”.  Not that there’s anything wrong with this, mind (don’t mean to offend the UK-ers out there!).  Everytime the situation calls for it, I model the “thank you” for Little Miss and repeat it several times.  It’s taken a while but one day, out came “tank uhhn”.  That’s right folks!  My girl said THANK YOU!  Well, not many people would understand it as THANK YOU but I do and that’s all that matters.  And it’s a start isn’t it?  She’s getting quite good at it now and every once in a while the “you” part actually sounds like a ”you”.  It is interesting, though…she’s repeating the sounds that stick out- the “t”, the ”nk” and the “ou” albeit rather muffled. 

I’m proud of my girl!  Next lesson, I’m hoping is “LOVE YOU”!  We’re getting proper, smacky kisses now versus open mouthed, drooly kisses so I’m thinking “LOVE YOU” isn’t far off now.  I’ll keep you posted.