Babylon

(And on.)

Sprite is the talker these days. Oy, the words (?) that come out of her mouth. I wish I could show you how she just starts jabbering at one of the dogs and then pauses as if the dogs are going to respond. And the dogs cock their heads in response like they're considering it! ( I have a camera on stand by to catch it. And I will someday. Oh, yes...)

She is talking about everything, sometimes repeating something John or I say, sometimes repeating something the teacher told her three days before, which leaves John and me clueless and staring at each other for the definition.

I hear some familiar words from the English language creep in, but my Toddler to English translation book is still on back order (apparently, it's very popular) and I don't think total immersion into her world will make it any easier.(Plus I would be in need of some therapy after all the Elmo exposure and would probably start referring to myself in the third person. "Jen is going to write on her blog now, because Jen is a big girl. And she can use the toilet or the potty! Do you have a potty?" Can you tell "Elmo's Potty Time" is in our DVD player right now?) I have been with her, mostly by ourselves, for days on end and none of it is making any sense, although I have caught on with some words and can sometimes pick up what she threw down.

"Batty" means butterfly. It also used to mean flower, but now flower has morphed into "Flouwur".

"Noah" still means sippy cup. I have wracked (and wrecked) my brain on this one and even borrowed John's for a while (I'll give it back soon.) and neither one of us can figure out how "Noah" came to mean cup.

"Bitty" means belly button which she will show you if you're interested. (Hell, even if you're NOT interested, can you at least feign interest and humor her?) Be careful, though. She may try to help herself to yours as well. (We haven't started teaching personal boundaries yet, although she is well aware of her own and you better be aware of her personal boundaries as well, or she'll tell you off.)

"Lello" means yellow. "Puhple" means purple.

"Meow" means 2 things, cat or the sound the cat makes. Sprite can't be bothered to say "cat". She points correctly when we ask, but won't go the bonus round. (Slacker.)

"Nite nite" is, of course, go to bed, kid, so Mommy and Daddy can get on with their adult time.

I love and hate when she goes into her rants on everything from the scenery to the kid who pissed her off in class this morning, but she decides to wait until she's home and then takes out her aggression on the dogs. I love it because she acts like I should understand her, so the expressions on her face are priceless. I hate it because I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. (I think when she realizes I really don't understand, she will slow down her Sprite-talk to a crawl and maybe make her voice louder and use her hands to pantomime as if THAT will make everything clear. And I will laugh..because I'm mean.)

Of course, irony is funny enough that as soon as her Sprite-talk makes perfect sense to us, she'll master the basics of the English language and drop "Noah" like it's yesterday's juice.

For right now though, I'm not rushing things. I'm enjoying the fact that I understand Sprite in her native tongue better than I understand John in his. (His native language is Spanish... No, I cannot speak Spanish... I'll explain in another post...Because you're interested, that's why!...Then fake the interest! Geez.)

Comments

[Lisa (Jonnysmommy)]

"Jen is going to write on her blog now, because Jen is a big girl. And she can use the toilet or the potty! Do you have a potty?"

Haaaaaahhaaaaa! Love this....sometimes I start talking like this...but to everyone...not just Jonathan. Does that make me weird?

Oh dear....

We are also watching Elmo's potty time. I have actually yet to see it. Hubby has watched it with him and said Jonathan just gave him this .. huh? Look...

[Becky]

Even though my child cannot utter a single word or understand the happenings around her, she still likes Elmo for some reason. Maybe it's the colors or his ear piercing voice that grabs her attetnion. But while mentioning Elmo to a friend we began thinking up things that would sound rather funny (or creepy) being spoken from Elmo. One in which being: What would it sound like if Elmo sang a rendition of "Hurt"? Try it! Or any somg with "I" in it alot.

Enjoy

[Trish]

When my daughter was small, she called her bottom her "bobbin", which in Toddler-to-English kind of makes sense. Everyone who heard her say it was so charmed with "bobbin" that it worked its way into our family lexicon. She's 13 now, but sometimes we still call it our "bobbin".

P.S. I love the site!