The Constant Sound

I've commented before about Twinkle's constant chatter.

I am, by nature, a quiet person. I come from a quiet family. My parents, my brother and I can all be in a room together and not speak for minutes at a time. This may seem not entirely familial, but it's just the way we are. Hubby and his family are the exact opposite. Again, a family of four. They can all be in a room together and be having 4 conversations, the TV on and a CD playing. I get lost and it feels so chaotic to me.

Twinkle, at 5 1/2, definitely takes after Hubby. I think that's great. I want her to be outgoing and confident that what she has to say is something that others want to hear. I don't want her to question whether she should speak up. I DO want her to stop and think about what she says before she says it, but I definitely want her to be a "talker".

Having said all of that, it takes everything I have sometimes to not just scream, "Stop Talking!!" I truly love her non-stop narration of her day. I love how creative she is. I love how joyous she is about everything - EVERYTHING! During a recent drive to dinner, she was just going on and on about something and laughing and making goofy sounds and my best friend (Twinkle's God-mother), said "You just love life, don't you?" It hit me, my Twinkle DOES love life!! How can I take THAT away from her.

I need to get a handle on myself. Whenever the chatter is getting under my skin, instead of quieting her, I guess I just need to leave the room for a while. Obviously, I don't want to crush her spirit. I wonder if there are things that I do unconsciously that are crushing her anyway. She has learned to identify the sigh that manages to escape my lips when I'm exasperated with her. I don't want her to feel like she can't express herself for fear of annoying me.

She is certainly the joy of my life and I need to make sure that she knows that.