From my kiddy’s vocabulary

Translating my little one’s magical word to a neighbour who turned to me with a question mark on her face, I asked her what her child’s version of the same word was. Got me thinking, each child’s self-framed language is unique. I’m sure all mothers (ok, also fathers, granddads, grandmas etc) enjoy this lovely phase, where the entire family starts conversing in the kiddy’s language, even while he/she’s not around!

They do have an unpredictable shelf life, though. The child soon replaces his/her magical word with the more commonplace, actually right word. Sometimes I wish my son had not got hold of the right word so soon!

There are people who teach babies babyish words, i.e., easy short forms. The way I love it is to spell a word as it is to my little one, and then follow his version of the same. Un coding and understanding a little one’s language can be very interesting, easy at times, confusing at times, but thoroughly enjoyable throughout.

From my kiddo’s vocabulary… there are “easy level” words, like TT for TV, “Nee nee” for Neeru (Water), “Cheeyu” for “See you”, “Ned” for “Red”, “Boo” for “Blue”. (Oh, he loves to say Boo, so he goes on, boo boo boo boo)

And then there are reverse words (usually easy too, these are just fun!), like “Meenama” (It used to be Meena maama earlier) for “Vimaana” (Aeroplane), Pacchali for Chappali (Slippers), dammu for maddu (medicine). I’ve heard most of these from a lot of other kids as well; guess babies have some kind of telepathic understanding in this regard.

Now for the “difficult level” words. These can be understood easily if you have been present the first time the child coins this word, or someone who has been there informs you. Otherwise, you’ll have a tough time wracking your brains! My little one used to say “Anga” for song. When he felt sleepy, he would mutter, anga anga, which meant that I had to sing. Sometimes, the demand would be more specific, like “Tinku tinku”(Of course, “Twinkle twinkle”). One more was “Nammi” for curds or yogurt. I don’t know what made him name it so!

The other day he accidentally said “Dubbu” when I said “Muddu”. I echoed “Dubbu?!” and he burst out laughing. In seconds, he had the whole family laughing, emphatically pronouncing “dubbu” every now and then, before getting into another ripple of laughter.

One word we have not been able to decipher from his vocabulary is “Mini Dodia”. He comes up with the expression several times, but it was just impossible to relate it to anything or anyone. I don’t think we’ll know what it means. (Sigh!)

Need a break from your hectic schedule of life? Just try conversing with a tot. No matter how you feel, a word from a little one can never fail to arch your lips into a happy smile J