One of my favorite things about the stage that Sis is in currently is that I get to be her interpreter.
Her language is really taking off, but much of the time, no one can understand her but me.
Of course, she has lots of words that are obvious to all, like “Wa-wa,” “Nigh-Night,” and “Otay!” But there are many of her words and phrases that are not so easy to recognize.
I love that I know what she means when others don’t. That I know that “Dow!” (down) means “Up.” And that sometimes it means “down.”
I am happy that I’ve figured out that “Me!” means “Again!” and “Too” means “Me too!”
I’m glad I have deciphered that “I nit” means “I want that” and “I no” means “I don’t know.” That “Ah weesh” means “I wash” and “I brush” and “A fish.”
The mind of a 19 month old is so busy and so fascinating. She imitates everything, especially what her sisters do.
Here’s an example:
A few days ago she was in the school room with me. She pulled out one of the carpet squares her sisters use for circle time in school. She put it on the rug in front of the white board and calendar, sat on it cross-legged, pointed to the calendar, and said “Twooo, weeee, twooo, weeee” (two, three, two, three). That’s how she counts, and she was doing it like her sisters do when we count the days to determine the date. Then she got up and went to the window to look out, just like her sisters do when we are checking to see the weather for the day. She points to all letters and says, “P.”
She also has wonderful manners, even if I’m the only one who can understand them most of the time.
“Da-doo” = “Thank you”
“Shoo-shoo” = “Excuse me” and “Bless you”
“Pee!” = “Please”
“I wowy” = “I’m sorry”
“Ow you?” = “How are you?” and when I answer, “I’m well, thanks. How are you?” she says, “Ghee!” (good)
She calls Lass by her name (which is not Lass, BTW) and she calls Miss “Di-duh” (sister).
This past weekend when lots of family was here at the Farm, I had to quickly learn to differentiate “Di-duh” and “Duh-doh” for “Sister” and the name of one of her cousins, respectively.
“Nee” is “banana.” “Ee-ma-mo” is “animal.” And also “horse.”
“Way hoppy?” is “What happened?”
“Bay” is “blankie,” though it used to be “Bee-bee” which still is “Baby.” Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that she now calls her blankie “Bay” and think she is saying “Pay” which means “play.”
Just today she said a new word – “kets” which is “catch.” That one was pretty easy to figure out since she said it as she was trying to throw a ball at me. She said “Kets! Twooo, weeee…” and then threw it six inches in front of herself.
She loves to play with utensils, and sometimes it can be a bit hard to distinguish “Pooo!” which means “spoon,” from “Poooo!” which means “change my diaper!”
I consider it one of the great privileges of motherhood that I get to be the interpreter for my kids as they learn language. I love being able to translate for others who, knowing this ability of The Mom, intuitively look at me to tell them what my child said. I like understanding my girls. I like helping others to understand them.
It’s like my girls and I, for a while at least, have this special little bond wherein we speak a secret language, and I get to understand them better than anyone else.
I love being a mom.
