Wendy, thought she’d write this post, since she is becoming an expert!
“Words? Well, if you are going to get anything around this house, you have to make your requests known. Apparently when I got here there was already another child (I haven’t quite figured out what to call him yet) taking all of Mama’s time and energy. I’ve done my best to commandeer her for myself, but he is pretty tough competition. She seems to think he is cute and is very committed to keeping him around, so I try to work with it the best I can. Of course, he is fascinating and really, if I’m honest, very handy in some situations.”
“The big people seem to have this weird complicated system to communicate. It involves an endless variety of sounds, which are fun to imitate and all, but let’s just be honest here. If you really want to get some action, just scream. It works every time.”
“Of course, Mama will tell you that she has taught me signs for lots of words. She has this theory that giving babies signs to communicate is like giving them tools. She thinks that if I have signs, I won’t want to scream. What she doesn’t realize is how much faster she turns around when I yell at her, than when I sit there quietly moving my hands in some asinine repetitive motion. But I’ll give her props for being almost as stubborn as I am. Even after I scream and she knows exactly what I want, I still have to make the stupid sign to get it!”
“All that to say, signing is not so much a tool for me, more a frustrating incentive to get on with talking. I’ve discovered if I make a noise even remotely like the word that belongs with the sign, she stops making me move my hands to get what I want. So recently, I’ve been dropping signs left and right and super motivated to get on with the talking.”
“Here’s what I’ve figured out so far: You can get a lot of mileage out of three or four simple sounds. Try changing the inflection and, viola, it’s a whole new word! For example, I get a lot of attention for saying Batman. It gets me kisses! I’m so good at saying Batman, now that I can picking it out of a conversation in the next room and repeat it back. They think I’m so smart, but really all I did was put a growly voice on my sound for bye-bye. Seriously, Batman = ‘ba-ba” with a growl; Bye-bye = “ba-ba” in a sing-song tone! And they think I’m fantastic for it! That, my friends is how you get the cover-your-whole-body-in-goose-bump kisses! You really have to make sure they don’t make you work to hard, how do you think I’ve managed to maintain my chub this long? Shortcuts! It’s all in the shortcuts—well, and food. (But that is a subject for another day!)”
“Anyways, I was about to show-off to you how much mileage I’ve gotten out a few simple sounds:”
- “Bwa-bwa” = bottle, or to nurse
- “Wa-bwa” = water cup (certainly not to be confused with ‘bottle’)
- ”Aba” = Amen
- ”Bee-bee” = Wendy, baby, please-please (I use this to get something that I want, but it certainly took Mama a loooooong time to figure out what this one meant)
- "Ba-ba” (with growly voice) = Batman
- "Ba-ba” (with sing song voice and wave) = bye bye
- “Na-na” = night night (said over and over after I leave the room and she is falling asleep)
- “Chssss” = cheese (first word)
- “Aaaaaaa” = ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I’m ready for the next bite’
- “Da-da” or “Da” = Dada
- “Ma-ma-ma” = Mama
- “Apee” = ‘up please’
- “Ah dya” = ‘all done’ or ‘all gone’ …from February…from May
- “Tzzss” = ‘brush teeth’
- “Eye” = hi
- “Ma” = more
- “Mwaah” = kiss
“Impressive, right? Also, it is only fair to admit, that I do keep a few signs around for their cute = cuddle properties. I do love a good hug and cuddle! Here’s my most effective one: the sign for sleep.”
“Na na!”
1 comment:
So much fun!
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