my daughter the genius
The Pumpkin is almost 16 months old now, and the last few months have been amazing to watch, brain-development-wise. It seems like she busts out with a new word (and animal sounds count!) every other day, and that’s not even counting all her signs, which we half-heartedly tried to do at about 6 months and gave up on shortly thereafter. Which just goes to show you, you really do have to be careful what you say/do around them little critters, ‘cause you never know what’s gonna stick [like my good friends’ darling one-year-old babygirl who likes to quietly exclaim “Shit!” when she’s stuck or something, or, you know, when she’s in prime embarrass-the-parents position in the grocery store].
So, here’s a short list of some of The Pumpkin’s favorite vocab at the moment...
Signs:
All done/finished/get me off this bench now (see pic above)
More/I want/gimme now!
Please (used interchangeably with more/Iwant/gimme now!)
Milk
Food/eat
Water (often looks indistinguishable from food/eat)
Flower (often looks indistinguishable from food/eat and water, unless she “sniffs”)
Swing (as in, I want to go on the, a.k.a. “swing up high!” by mommy in a sing-song voice)
Kiss-bye (with sound effects)
Thank you (yeah, that one only comes out by request, can look like a silent kiss-bye)
Bye-bye
Hola (doesn’t look like what you’d think, but thank her Dora book)
Bird
Open/Close
Book (as in, Read me a)
Music (as in, I want to dance so turn on the)
Pretty eyes (it’s a Filipino thing, don’t ask)
Elephant (useful, I know)
Hooray! (thanks, kiddie-gym)
Words:
Mama/mommy and dada/daddy (though not always in reference to us)
Waldo (the dog—her first word, disappeared for a while and now resurfaced)
Uh-oh (most amusing when used after something that she did on purpose)
Blue (as in the color, the crayon, the berry)
Ball (anything round)
Bye
Book
Baby (for any baby or her own photo or reflection)
Bee (guess she likes the “b” sound, huh?)
Hi
Three
Up/Down (still figuring out that these are opposites)
Hot (especially handy in the kitchen)
Cracker (sometimes sounds like Waldo or dada, but whatever)
Puppy (ditto)
Bubble (also ditto)
Brown bear (again, ditto; from the eponymous book, of course)
Chime (sounds like “die” but it’s not)
Flower (busted out with that one just tonight)
Apple (ditto, after discovering it wasn’t a ball)
Cheese (meaning pictures, taking them or looking at them, and the computer)
Assorted two-syllable approximations of Nana, Tata, Grandma and Grandpa
and of course, her favorite...
NO! (often her first word upon waking, said in a cute sing-song)
Assorted noises:
Ha ha ha (exaggerated laugh)
Boo! (loves to “scare” us, sounds like “blue”)
Moo (what a cow says, sounds like boo and blue)
Baa (sheep and goat)
Pig snort (don’t ask)
Blowing for “hot”
Blowing for “bubbles”
Kiss-bye (”mwaah”)
Muted lion roar
Cat meow (no “m” sound, also for any small animal)
2-syllable dog bark
Ai-ee (”I’m stuck”)
(to be distinguished from ) Yai-Yai (as in, Old MacDonald had a farm...)
The all-purpose “uhhn”/”mmm” (that/I want/now)
Monday, February 27, 2006