Talk to your kids....a lot!

So my 4 year old is a non-stop talker. And so many times I have to just let her go, answering every other question and comment on every one I can catch without losing my mind. There are literally times that I have to tell her, "Lydia, I just don't want to talk anymore!" She has no idea that it takes A LOT of talking for me to get to that point. Anyway, the other day we were on our way home from a doctor appointment and I needed her to stay awake for the ride so she would still get a nap when we got home. The topics that interest her most are....puke, blood, and poop. So we had to talk about these faves so she would stay awake. Wow, she even had our 75 year old friend telling puke stories. Then we ran out of real stories and had to make a few up! Eventually, we were repeating so we changed to the subject of "the hops." For some reason, she has always thought that cops are "hops", and so, it is a common household name for us. Anyway, long story short, she and I practiced 911 calls taking turns being the "hops" and the people needing help. It was hilarious. What was cool though, is I realized that all of that talking we have done over the years has paid off. She really does take this stuff in and gets it! So many times I have thought it was mindless chatter. If I weren't one born with the gift of gab, I might have been tempted to blow her off and just not talk about all of this stuff ALL DAY long. Cool thing, is that this chatter could some day save a life. Amazing!