Benjamin is a talker.  He has vastly surpassed what is expected for a child his age — speaking to him is a lot like speaking to an adult.  He’s even been quickly picking up words in German:  he’s just the right age, he picks up language easily in general and, frankly, we watch a fair bit of Nick, Jr. in German.  But, up until recently, he’s only spoken German when specifically prompted.  He has added his first unsolicited word in German, and it is (of course):  “Nein!”

For a lot of kids, their first word is “no” (or whatever is the appropriate variant for their native language) but for Benjamin, his first word was “down” and he didn’t really overuse “no” for his first couple of years of speaking.  But, “nein” has become one of his most common utterances these days.

It’s fun to see him picking up the language without any particular effort on either of our parts.  It’s as though he’s just absorbing it out of the air.  And, honestly, hearing your three year old run around the house chanting “nein!” is a lot cuter and less irritating than “no!”  (I think it fails to push the same emotional button.)  Maybe we’ll get lucky and we’ll pass through the “terrible threes” in German — and I might not even understand enough of what he’s saying to be driven crazy by it.