Right around the time Kyan turned 2.5 years old, he starting chatting up everybody. He wanted to be included in conversations, he wanted to be heard. It was really cute, until around 3 years old, when I'm talking to my friends, he would go "Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama...." until I responded. It was driving me nuts.
Earlier this year, I came across this piece of advice and thought it was brilliant.
"I was chatting with her one day when her (then 3-year-old) son wanted to say something. Instead of interrupting though, he simply placed his hand on her wrist and waited. My friend placed her hand over his to acknowledge him and we continued chatting.
After she had finished what she was saying, she turned to him. I was in awe! So simple. So gentle. So respectful of both the child and the adult. Her son only needed to wait a few seconds for my friend to finish her sentence. Then she gave him her complete attention."
I immediately started implementing it. I told Kyan (then just turned 3) he needs to place his hand on my hand and wait if he wants to talk. It took a few days for this new habit to kick in for both of us and for him to register the cause and effect, but it worked! Somedays when we forget, he reverts back to interrupting but it's only because I had forgotten to reinforce the gesture and allowed him to interrupt.
I'm quite sure he now understands interrupting is not appropriate because Kevin and I would be driving in our car, chatting, and he'd go "Mama, mama, mama ...", I'd turn around to look at him and before I could say anything, he goes "but I can't reach your hand from my car seat!"
P.S. A Brilliant Way To Get Your Child To Eat (Almost) Anything and on work/life balance, More Than Kyan's Mom.