I spent some time looking after my beautiful God daughter yesterday. (I think any mother of boys should endeavour to have a God daughter; endless excuse for girly behaviour and pink purchases...) Anyway, it all went well, and I was pleased to discover that she mastered some new words whilst she was with us - namely, apple (or 'bapple'), monkey ('dunkey') and sheep (OK - actually 'beep'!).
I'd semi-forgotten how much I like this phase. Amelia is 21 months old now, and she's pretty much learning a new word every day. How cool is that? I love the way you start to get an insight into what's going on in their amazing little heads. Amelia has always had plenty of personality - but now she gets the chance to express it so much more. I like the way they babble on, mostly unintelligibly, but just throwing in the odd understandable word.
It's not that long since my own children were doing a similar thing; but it's amazing to me how quickly it fades in your memory. Joel used to call butterflies 'numenies', and Nathan mispronounced all sorts of things, but I'm starting to forget the details. My favourite of Nathan's is actually pretty recent: We were all watching the Grand Prix together, and he was playing with some toy F1 cars and shouting; 'Come on Jenson Bottom!' (easy enough to guess who he meant there), and 'Come on Mrs Harrington!' It took us a while to realise he meant Lewis Hamilton. I laughed so much I thought I might burst. I'm kind of hoping to keep these as an on-going family joke to be honest.
'Come on Mrs Harrington!'
Can you get them to shout "Play better!" at the tennis as well? We've got our 8-month check-up coming up and I have list of developmental things to tick whether Phoebe can do them. She's looking good for mobility but showing no sign of talking or even babbling yet. I'm not worried at all - just really enjoying the things she can do - but I am looking forward to words. I'm sure life will be easier when she can tell me what's wrong ("Seriously Mum, would you be happy sitting in a dirty nappy?").
ReplyDeleteHaving seen you and Matt in action, I find it hard to imagine that Phoebe ever gets to sit in a dirty nappy for more than five seconds!
ReplyDeleteMy brother used to substitute parts of words with 'a' so we had a-van for caravan, a-bird for ladybird etc. My sister was called bi-man instead of Vivien, easily confused with binman. Fortunately he had two big sisters to translate for him before he became comprehensible to the wider world (ie our parents).
As mummy of aforementioned beautiful God daughter I feel I should inform you of the conversation in a public toilet stall earlier -
ReplyDelete"Mummy wee!"
- 'Yes, mummy wee.'
"Mummy poo?"
- 'No, no poo today.'
"Mummy wee?"
- 'Yes, but mummy's finished now.'
(flushing commences)
"Bye bye wee wee!"
The woman washing her hands tried very hard to keep a straight face whilst we pontificated on the importance of 'wash our hands now because they've been near our bottom'. Glad we're so entertaining!
Conversations with a 4yr old boy in public toilets are entertaining or embarassing...he likes to look under the cubicle to see what he can see, and comment on the colour shoes or maybe what the person is wearing...we then have to remain in the cubicle until the person has gone..I find it best to avoid public toilets with small children at all costs..!!! loving your blogs Gill, love Cherylx
ReplyDeleteHi Gill, love your blog.
ReplyDeleteI might add a few words of my own having guided 3 children (now adults) through various stages and now enjoying 'Nannyhood' with darling Erin.
Laurie, my eldest used to call strawberries 'Hockeys' and Elephants were 'Lumpilips', seemed fairly straightforward until his brother made an appearance! Greg had really strange words for some things, for example his favourite blanket (used as a comforter) was his 'Day' took us ages to work that one out; and he always hated 'Rits' on his plate otherwise known as carrots.
Erin is an absolute delight but does however cause many an embarrassing glance when we eat out, as her word for a certain eating utensil often sounds like an obsenity. She does excell though when she sings her nursery rhymes and for one so young (she is only 2yrs) she normally gets the tune right but not quite all the words; those she does know are usually sung at FULL volume just to be sure, has us in stitches.
Glad you are enjoying being a full time mum, cherish every day as they change so fast. Love Annie x
Aww bless - words are so good. Sarah's little ones are much more comprehensible now and i can get the majority of thier words. Badger for water was an odd one that took getting used to though. As for me - well, my favourite word was Griffister which was apparently Christopher, and My nursery teacher was apparently Mrs Snowball - or Mrs Noble to be precise :-P
ReplyDeleteHelen