What fascinates me most about the 22-month-old vocabulary of my daughter is the remarkable way that she can, somehow, take a very small set of words and translate it into many meanings. This week's entry is an ode to her limited word bank and endless interpretations:
"Pug-ah": I couldn't tell you why or how, but somehow my daughter has established that JACKET is pronounced "Pug-ah". She can put a question mark at the end of it ("Pug-ah?") and in doing so she is asking "Can I have this jacket?". By putting an exclamation point at the end of it, she is saying "TAKE OFF THIS JACKET!" We have no idea where she got "pug-ah" from. It started with her yanking on her zipper and proclaiming "pug-ah!". When we didn't figure it out fast enough, she proceeded to hit herself in the chest where the zipper was, then pull at the zipper again before sweetly asking "Pug-ah?" So, as best we can figure, she means "jacket".
"Puppy": This is an obvious one. Puppy means the two dogs we have running around the house. Sometimes said with her ear tucked to her shoulder, when she drags it out she is saying "awwwww puppy.....". When she is excited to see them, she yells (loudly)"PUPPY!!!" and when she wholly entertained by them, "PUPPYYYY!!!!" is preceded by the most ear-splitting, blood-curtling scream you could imagine.
"Cocks": Yes. Cocks. This is how Olivia says socks. She knows that there is an "S" sound in there somewhere but doesn't know how we are doing it. Inevitably, her experimentation with this word is in the "cks" part where she sometimes connects her soft palate and tries to say "cks" the way that Jeff Dunham spells Achmed the Dead Terrorists name: "A-c----chhhhhhhhhhh.....", so what comes out is "cocccchhhhhhhhhs". Still not accurate. Still not appropriate in mixed company. Still not something I would want her yelling in a mall.
"Cager": This is "Cracker". While she can pronounce the "ck" in "sock" ("cock") it is somehow elusive in "Cracker". This is something that she says from the moment she gets downstairs, an repeats like a skipping record until I go into the pantry and get her a graham cracker. "Cager" can be used to describe animal crackers, ritz crackers, graham crackers, or saltines. Most of the time she puts a question mark at the end: "Can I have a cracker"; other times he states it "You will give me a cracker.... now."
"Bup": This is a new one. My daughter is obsessed with dipping food into sauces. Mostly, she will dip anything - and I do mean ANYTHING - into ketchup. Let me tell you, there is a certain gag-factor to most of the things she dips into ketchup because, truly, there are no limits. Greenbeans, animal crackers, bread, chicken, sausage, fries, hotdogs, beef, pasta, saltines, ham, cheese. Usually the way this will go is tha she will sit in her high chair, have a half a bite of something, and then decide that she will not eat one more bite until she can dip it in something. Quizzically, she will look up form her food, push her pointer finger on to her plate, and pronounce: "Bup?". What's that, Olivia? You want "DIPPP"... at this point she will stick her tongue out just in front her of her lower lip and say: "Bup!"
"Bat": "Olivia, you want a BATH?" Olivia: BAT!!!! Us: "Ok - get Piggy. Get Nuk! Com'mon" Olivia: runs around the room searching for Piggy. "PIGGY!!!" runs around the room searching for Nuk. "GUCK!" and then proceeds to run as fast as she can to her bedroom where she throws Piggy into her crib and then starts pulling her clothes off (putting them in the hamper!) and then grabs her towel "COW" and running into the bathroom.
"Gacky": Jackie - our oldest dog.
"Beah": Bear - Erica's (her daycare provider) dog
"Baidy": Bailey - our younger dog.
"Meeeeow": Caighlyn, our cat.
"Hep": "Help". This can be done either "Hep?" - as in "can you please help me?" or "Hep!" as in "I want to help you!"
"Pee": Please. She learned the sign for "please", too, but rather than taking her hand in small circles on her chest, she will take her hand and brush her finger tips from the center of her chest toward her armpit and the same time that she begs for something "Pee? Pee? Pee? Pee?"
"PeePee/PooPoo": ANYTHING in her diaper. It's actually kinda nice that she alerts us when she is messy... let's us know what we are walking into.
"Yea": "Yes" - as in "no, Olivia, we aren't going to take off our pants and diaper in the middle of the room" - "yea. yea." *head nods repeatedly*
"Ni Ni": "Night night" and one of my favorites. For the first time, Olivia is starting to put together little sentences. The other night, while she was in the tub getting her bath, I said "Ok, Bebo. I love you. Night Night Bebo" - and my daughter sweetly looked up, naked and wet, and said "Ni Ni Mama". I about died. Well, I nearly jumped in the tub with her to hug her and kiss her... then I about died. She uses "Ni Ni" when she is tired and wants a nap or if she is ready for bed.
"Pooosh": "Push" - this means that she wants to turn the tv on or off. Usually, right before bedtime or when we first get into her play room - "Poooosh".
"Bu-EEEE": code for "bunny". She will make "Bu-EEEE" dance in her carseat while she listens to the radio in the car and will proclaim "BU-EEE" she she drops him by accident.
Among her "perfect" words: Mama, Daddy, Bebo (her nickname) and Juice.
But there is NOTHING more endearing than "PIGGY". A gift from Josh's Aunt Janice, Piggy is Olivia's companion item. She travels everywhere with Piggy. She sleeps with Piggy. She rubs piggy's ears when she is tired. She eats with him, travels with him and takes him EVERYWHERE. The word "Piggy" has been used in probably 30 different tones. She says it sadly and pouts (its heartbreaking) - "Piggggggy" :(, she says it happily and with joy "PIGGY!", she says it with love "Piiiiiiigggggyyyyy", she says it as though Piggy broke her heart in a little tiny voice - "p.i.g.g.y."... Piggy has brought Olivia comfort and stability when she has felt nervous and unsure. Piggy has let us see the range of emotions our daughter has to offer in her very young life and we are already wondering what we will need to do to keep Piggy in shape for as long as Piggy has a place in Olivia's heart... but piggy will always hold a place in ours - he has been there for Olivia when we couldn't be and has seen all of Olivia's adventures. One day she will run off without him and leave her little-girl life behind, but we will hold on to Piggy as a reminder of this amazing chapter - the chapter in which our daughter rarely pronounced anything correctly but entertained us for hours and expressed every emotion she had using only a handful of words; a time when first started enjoying communicating with our very happy little girl.
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