Dr. B (our early childhood development specialist) is taking the day off. To the woman who's two-year-old is throwing sippy cups at the back of her head while she's driving, I apologize but your question will be answered next week. I hope you don't sustain any head injuries in the interim.
——————————–
Today I have a terrifying video of my 19 month-old singing the ABCs that I'd like you all to evaluate. "Terrifying" might be strong. Let's go with— "adorably concerning".
Let me give you some background.
Mazzy has been acting increasingly… what's the word? Like she's on CRACK. I don't know how most children act because I've only got the one, and prior to having her, I avoided all children like the plague. So it's possible that everybody sees daily or hourly episodes like the one I am about to show you.
But I also know that the other day, I went to the Museum of Natural History with a friend and her 21 month-old boy. As Mazzy was running at the speed of light back and forth from one side of the "Hall of Ocean Life" to the other, my friend turned to me, child's hand in hers, and asked— "Is she always like this?"
Ummm… Yes?
Mazzy does not sit still— not even for Elmo. And she approaches everything (bubbles, hair dryers, sprinklers, etc.) with unmatchable enthusiasm (except maybe by Robin Williams)— grin from ear to ear, hands clapping wildly, eyes blinking incredulously, body propelled perpetually forward (usually towards a sharp edge or a socket).
Don't get me wrong— it is cute as hell. But it also looks like I feed her a steady diet of swizzle sticks and gatorade. (I don't, I swear.)
Before I subject you to the video, I must offer the caveat that it is an unedited 3 minutes and 15 seconds long. I usually make it a policy to keep all videos 45 seconds or below because I don't think anyone wants to watch a 3 minute video of someone else's child unless it's scripted and produced by Judd Apatow. Unfortunately, to fully appreciate the progression of this seemingly-sugar-or-drug-induced frenzy, you must watch it in it's entirety.
YOU SHOULD NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO IF:
a) You hate children
b) You have sensitive ears
c) You don't want to feel threatened by the future President of the United States
d) You have other things to do
Alright. Ready? (Feel free to press "stop" at any time.)
Are you out the other side alive?
If so, tell me— should I be putting Xanax in her milk?
Please help.
OMG she can sing the ABC song?????
Her dress!! I love her dress!!!!!
She walks around in circles – Monkey does that too!!!!!!
He regularly runs around from one side of the room to the other for no reason!!!!!!!!!!
Oh sorry, I’m just typing the way Monkey acts – hyper, active, exclamation points.
So no, not to worry, Mazzy is normal.
(hold the Xanax)
Um, HOW did she learn the ABC song? Your child’s vocabulary at 20 months is unmatched. Lil’ Bit is only putting two words together right now, and her pediatrician says that’s advanced for her age. So, Mazzy? Is clearly a genius baby.
But genius vocabulary aside, yes, Lil’ Bit acts like that all the time – the enthusiasm, the not sitting still EVER, all of it. And you have no idea how happy I am to see someone else her age doing the EXACT SAME THING. It makes me feel like she’s really just being a normal toddler.
Or maybe she and Mazzy are just both ADD.
I think she is pretty much perfect! I wouldn’t worry Toddlers are a unique breed.
Holy Fuck!
Mazzy sings the ABC song?
Mazzy sings the ABC song! Like word perfect!
Even my four year old still sings it “Q R S 2 R V” – I mean, it’s clear he ain’t no Rhode scholar but this is AHHHHHH-mazing.
As to her behaviour? Whatever. She’s the cutest genius alive. Who gives a fuck if she’s a meth addict?
That was delightful. I love the dramatic pauses…it’s like is she dead? is she not dead? is she dying? Brava! If you ask me, I’d only encourage it even more =)
Give that baby an academy award! Love that’s she’s concerned about Mom! And the subtitles are prob my favorite part! LOL! Made my day!
Seriously you should keep reproducing and grace the world with more of those dark haired beauties. She honestly belongs on the cover of a baby magazine and the talent – sweet Lord we have a female Jim Carrey on our hands.
She is extremely cute, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in terms of energy.
Though if you DO want her to be less hyper, the absolute best way to do this is GIVE HER EXERCISE everyday. Bring her to the park and have her run around for at least 1 hour. If not, two hours. Not sitting, walking, but RUNNING.
You can do this by playing tag with her, which gives you exercise as well.
See how hyper she is after that.
it makes me feel better that other moms of kids about Mazzy’s age were expressing surprise that your genius baby can sing the ABC song (9 times). Thanks, other mothers!
She is awesome, but you knew that.
What a ham!
But I think it is apparent she wants you to sing with her next time and will do just about anything to get you to, haha!
(ps– I’m a new reader and I absolutely adore your blog)
This is nothing. Come to my house.
Love it! She’s a cutie… my little one will run around in circles (she calls it “sinning” for spinning) and won’t stop until some sort of accident causes her to stop – usually hitting her head/leg/body against the table/wall/floor. That means it goes on for anywhere between 3-25 minutes, depending when the accident occurs. keep it up Mazzy!
Mazzy is awesome!
I happened to watch the video at work, wearing headphones of course, and my coworker asked me what the screeching was. Ooops!
She’s a little clown! I love it! Two things: My niece Kate is like that and she’s one of the most intelligent kids I know. So that’s good. Also, my daughter is the polar opposite and is so quiet and shy it hurts me. SOOOOO, it’s awesome that she’s a little ham and has lots of energy. That means she’d got self confidence! She’s going to be the life of the party!
So cute!
Maybe this makes me a horrible person, but I totally giggled when she just fell over. I have that problem on a daily basis-I have no balance, like at all, so randomly falling over is not an unusual occurrence for me. Your daughter is totally normal, aside from being a hilarious little psycho ball of energy. I’m impressed she already knows her alphabet.
Enjoy her 🙂
Totally freaking adorable! And surfing the end of the bell curve with verbal skills – totally going to be a star someday.
But I’m thinkin… I mean, just wonderin… maybe, before she starts school and all that… maybe she should get a nickname that doesn’t rhyme with “Spazzy”. 😉
Totally normal. She is adorable and clearly very smart like her mama.
LOVED this video! my 20 month old is the same in terms of crazy hyperness but Mazzy totally has her beat in the alphabet song dept. Mine only has “..yz..sing with me.. YAAAAAY..” down lol
Looks to me like she’s going to be the next Lady Gaga. Or Elton John. Take your pick. They’re both “passionate” while playing the piano, too, right?
I see she has also mastered the art of the Little Girl Sonic Screech (LGSS)!
She’s adorable & not in need of Xanax. But as long as you have the cam filming her, she will continue. If ever you want her to stop, put the cam down & say, Yay, All done!
Around this age, we switched to saying “Kaboom” every time punkin fell down. She was less likely to cry about falling if we just happily said Kaboom!
What a little cutie, and totally normal. Maybe the other kid at the museum was already on Xanax? Just sayin’. Amazing vocabulary. Mine is 28 months and has been able to sing the ABCs for a couple months now. The ped said she was way advanced for her verbal skills. It looks like Mazzy is even further along. Excellent mothering!!!!!
OH MY GOODNESS! That’s so adorable! I’m impressed with her singing skills and the fact that she knows all the letters in he alphabet! You’ve got one super smart kiddo on your hands!
I am soooo impressed!! My little girl Mady is 20 months and we can’t even get an A, B, C. She just now mastered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…9 and 10 🙂 Mazzy is just adorable!!! And such a smarty pants!
She is PERFECT! As the mother of three, as well as aunt to others I can assure you that she is just a happy, smart bundle of energy. Enjoy
I distinctly saw her hold still three times in a three-minute video! She’s downright peaceful compared to my almost-20-month-old! I think I hate your friend with a baby who walks calmly through museums, though??? What is that about??? So jealous I’m green…
my little sister and I watched this, and when it was over my son yelled, “AGAIN!” and we both screamed, “NO!” at the same time.
Heheh.
Was she tired? I mean…she had to be right?
I’m still laughing. Man, you have a fun time don’t you?
Um… I think the energy level is totally normal. My daughter does that but pretends she is a dinosaur as she does it… at least Mazzy is demonstrating her vast vocabulary! All I get is, Mamma, ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR! And then screeching as the dog and cats run for their lives from the smallest dinosaur ever.
I am way old. Your darling little girl is just performing for you. Watch your video and pay attention to your comments. She also knows what a video camera is. She is “on”.
I’m in the camp of “your 19 month old sings the ABC’s?” Rebecca kinda whines in the basic tune of the song, and has recently added her first two-word phrase to her vocabulary which is “Elmo’s World”. BUT, we do have “mama” now, so we’re making progress, right??? 😉
Your video cracked me up, and I’ve been sick since Sunday so laughing hurts. But it was worth it. Thanks for brightening my day 🙂
I think the thing you forgot to add is that your beautiful singing voice apparently skips a generation.
her W is perfect, that’s a milestone! she’s pure cuteness
This could be a video of my own 17 month old daughter, right down to the twirl-till-you-feel-drunk and the weird squatwalk. In my house, however, the singing is not yet intelligible. Just constant pterodactyl screeching.
Figure out how to bottle that energy and you will be a millionaire!
That made Bella & I both laugh hysterically (she’s 15 months). I’ll be super excited if she’s anywhere near that advanced 6 months from now. Mine is crazy hyper like that too. Only child thing perhaps? She’s quite a show off all the time to get our attention.
You mean that is NOT totally normal? We call our daughter “crack baby” …..affectionatley of course…um…sometimes. Does Xanax come in a liquid mixable form? Why has no one told me this? Here baby let mama have a drink out of that sippy cup and we can lay back and watch the popcorn ceiling together.
Lori
I am laughing so hard tears are running down my face and I have mascara streaks!!! this will be my little girl when she reaches that age.. god help me.. THANK YOU!
Gorgeous…. maybe she is going to be the next Stevie Wonder with eyesight??? She also threw in a bit of yoga towards the end there. Impressive and loved it to bits. She looked pretty normal to me…. although what’s normal anyways?
I thought she was going to just fall right asleep after she fell. NOPE. This was so freaking hilarious!
I’m new here. But I must tell you that a) your child is adorable (duh, you know this), and b) my 5-year-old daughter (who was exactly like this 3 years ago, btw. EXACTLY) is watching with me with a look on her face like, thank goodness I’ve outgrown this kind of nonsense. At one point when you asked Mazzy “are you ok?” MY daughter said, with considerable snark…”she doesn’t LOOK ok.” (She does, though. Totally ok. Forgive my 5-year-old’s attitude, I have NO idea where she gets that.)
America’s got talent – they’re waiting for Mazzy – this is the perfect audition tape of raw talent. But what’s really going on here is an attention getting ploy to get mommy away from her computer.
I don’t have kids so I have nothing to say about her energy level, other than that I could use some of whatever she is on. But — and I’m asking this specifically as someone who doesn’t have kids — how is your apartment cleaner and tidier than mine??
Super, super cute kid you have there, Ilana.
Okay, dayang! First, she sings the ABCs. She plays the (silent) piano like she’s Jerry Lee. And you have an unbroken glass coffee table with stuff on it that she’s ignoring. I’m amazed. Props to you.
Wow! ABC Song beautifully done at 19 mos! *clapclapclap*
If she can sustain that level of activity for an entire day and STILL not want to go to bed she’s ready to hang with my son, niece and nephew 🙂 Active kids are a blessing. Love it while ya got it. Envy that energy!
PS so happy I found you on thebloggess’es (bloggess’s?) blogroll 🙂
Welcome to the life of parenting a precocious talker. Give her two more years, and you’ll be considering consuming drinking nothing but vodka. Seriously.
The Girl Child of mine was also a precocious talker – her first birthday, she said this, “Mommy. I would like a cookie please.”
She also squealed a lot, and ran around as though she were on crack.
She is now six.
She still squeals a lot, and has copped the attitude of a teenager. I’m currently investing in Bacardi.
Cheers. ::clinks glass::
Mazzy is freaking adorable! And I agree…hold the Xanax for now! LMAO!
What an awesome video. Mazzy is so cute. I am impressed she knows the song. I have a 13 month old (who is already a spaz who tries to bite the dog) and it looks like I need to get to work.
Seriously amazed at her speaking and recall. Our daughter has been super advanced in speech since about 16 months but now even at 23 months old can’t remember such a long song AND keep her train of thought long enough while doing all the running around. Seriously impressive!
I had to laugh when I saw her do the “squatwalk” (thanks previous commentor!) Our little girl loves doing that sometimes and it’s so bizarre.
Otherwise, she’s acting fairly normal for an exhausted toddler peforming for a camera 😉