Daniel – A glossary

My main motivation when starting the blog was to chronicle my first years of motherhood and D Jr’s first years on the planet. It was supposed to be something like a baby book – hopefully I’ll have at least paper print-outs of this in 20 years so I can look back on how inexperienced, naïve and obsessive I was circa 2006-07! I am absolutely terrible about taking photos and those that I do take seem destined to live out their lives as jpegs. Those photos that get developed sit in boxes and envelopes and if they are really lucky might find their way into a photo album that is simply photos (no written dates or cutesy hand-written text). Scrapbooking seems like a total waste of time to me (no offense to those devotees out there). The official baby-book that all first-time-moms try to fill out, I kind of did something with for 6 months then stopped altogether. However, I’ve almost always kept a journal or diary, at least during the “pivotal” points in my life (you know, when you’re feeling obsessive, inexperienced and naïve), and I thought the blog would serve a similar purpose.

My blog entries often deviate from motherhood, D. Jr, and my “married with children” issues, but today I was in the mood to chronicle a little bit of what life is like right now with my little boy. Specifically, the language of toddlerhood, or at least my toddler. So, here’s Daniel in his own words.

DAT! = Dad. Almost always exclaimed or yelled. It is important to locate Dad quickly and make various demands from “ba!” to “wok!”

Ba! = bottle.

Wok = walk. A new favourite activity is going for a walk with A-Peet.

A-Peet = Petey, our dog. We’re not sure why, but he calls him A-Peet.

Woof-woof = What A-Peet says. Can also be used as a noun, as in “I see woof-woof.”

Beesy machines = Mighty Machines, a favourite show.

Brum, Bob, Bus, Trains = Some other favourite DVDs.

Cackas! = Crackers, normally of the goldfish variety.

CAKE = cake. Always, said gutterally. Any dessert is CAKE, even ice-cream.

Apo = apple.

Pook = poop. This is a new favourite word. Common usages include “I pook” and “A-peet pook.”

Bas = bath. Best thing to do. Period.

Kuh? = colouring. Always posed as question, “Kuh?” As in, “Dat, can you get me my crayons now?”

Pa = my grandpa, D Jr’s great-grandpa, Opa.

Pa-pa = D Sr’s dad, D Jr’s grandpa.

Onk-l = Uncle. This word was learned this weekend when my brother was visiting.

Antee? ANTEE! =Auntie. Said often and obsessively when my sister is around or when she is wished to be around.

Mota truck, fy truck, dum truck = Various types of trucks -- monster, fire and dump respectively.

Birt = bird.

Hip-ohhh = hippo. Not sure why, but he loves hippos.

Monk = monkey. I call him “Mama’s monk” a lot or “my little monkey.”

Line = lion

‘bra = zebra

Wa = water

Bankie = blankie. Luckily he has several favourites.

Night-night = going to bed. He asks to do this. We’re lucky.

Words D Jr says that actually are more or less phonetically perfect to his mommy’s ears: Mom, dog, cat, meow, phone, chair, sitoutside, sand, slide, swing, tree (okay more like tee), night-night, shirt, pants, socks, sandals, shoes, juice, hot dog, ham, orange, yellow, green (okay more like geen) hot, bug, empty (he loves the word empty!), where, bubbles, dig, all gone, oh oh, crash, stab (thanks Antee) and of course yes, but more often no.

I’m sure there’s so many words that I’m missing. He has such a large vocabulary now and it grows daily. He is starting to use phrases now, too, such as “I see _____” “Where go?” I realize this is kind of a boring, self-indulgent post, but nothing warms my heart more than when Daniel adds a new word to his vocabulary or forms rudimentary sentences, “I see A-Peet pook.” I worry that these are the times that go by in a blink of an eye and suddenly your wonderful baby is an annoying teenager. Perhaps, one day when my son is dressing like a freak and listening to terrible music I can read this and remember him singing along sweetly, earnestly and proudly to “Beesy machines.”