Lil’ CB is quite the talker. Seriously, he wakes up talking, talks allllllll day long, and falls asleep talking to himself. He’ll talk about anything and everything and will talk to anyone who’ll listen. Actually, he’ll talk to anyone, regardless if they’re listening. Actually, he’ll talk to anyone or anything.

You get the picture.

When Lil’ CB really took off with his talking and was putting multiple words together, we would rephrase and repeat a lot phrases to him — phrases that we wanted him to use on his own. And remarkably, they stuck and have become his stock phrases. While Lil’ CB totally has a sense of humor befitting a 3 year-old boy and his vocabulary reflects that,  it’s nice to hear these stock phrases sprinkled into his conversations.

Many of Lil’ CB’s stock phrases are common and generic, but an added bonus is that it’s also changed the way Mr. Cowboy and I talk. In fact, many of these phrases came about in our home because Lil’ CB was repeating something the way we were saying it and it just sounded unpleasant when we heard it parroted back to us by a toddler.

Here are some of Lil’ CB’s stock phrases:

*May I… I was big stickler on this one because I am just not a fan of hearing kids requesting things so casually. All day long at school I hear variations of “Can I have it?” “I want that!”, etc. And while the motive behind Lil’ CB’s “May I”s is the same as all those other variations, at least he sounds a little polite while asking!

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*Yes, please and No, thank you: Again, I wanted to make sure that whether Lil’ CB was receiving or refusing something, he was at least doing so politely. I’ve mentioned before that Lil’ CB is somewhat (okay, I really mean TOTALLY) spoiled by his grandparents and great aunts and uncles, so he is offered lots and lots of goodies. I wanted to make sure that he sounded grateful when accepting said goodies!

*Yes: NOT “yeah.” Call me a stick-in-the-mud but I hate the way “yeah” sounds (unless you’re Usher). Besides, “yes” sounds SO cute coming out of a little one’s mouth!

*Pardon?:  This one came about because of terrible habit I had of saying, “Huh?” (because that’s way classier than “yeah”) when I needed something repeated. We dabbled with “Excuse me?” as an alternative, but that phrase has the potential of sounding a bit snarky, so we went with Pardon; perfect for my Anglophile self.

*Jahl Muhk Uh Seum Nee Dah: This one is Korean, literally translated to “I ate well,” but with a meaning more like, “Thank you for the meal.” We are trying to use more Korean with Lil’ CB, so Mr. Cowboy has worked hard to help Lil’ CB remember to say this at the end of our family meals.

*Excuse me: We’ve been working hard on this phrase for when Lil’ CB wants to say something while grown-ups are talking. It’s coming along, but we’re working on having Lil’ CB wait for acknowledgement after saying Excuse me, so rather than just launching into, “Excuse me, may I have a cookie? May I have another cookie? Mommy, may I have a cookie???”, he waits for a second or two.

*Sure!: This wasn’t one that we necessarily intended for Lil’ CB to pick up on, but he has since I say so it often. It’s incredibly adorable and upbeat and makes me smile every time!

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As I mentioned, it’s been fun to hear and see how these phrases have become a part of our whole family’s vocabulary and I love the extra dose of decorum they bring into our lives! It is much needed, as much of our every day is otherwise very casual:

Very casual indeed.

How about you? Do you have any phrases that you are trying to teach your LO?