One of my favorite bloggers wrote a super cute post about the words her son uses that weren’t exactly properly pronounced. We’ve all had those with our kids right? If one of you tells me your child spoke perfect English from the start I’m gonna reach through this laptop and smack you. Or call bullshit.
So my Maddy is no different. Her speech development had been a bit of a challenge for us. Due to multiple ear infections as an infant, she missed hearing so many sounds just as she was learning to speak. And while her receptive language (the stuff she understands) is quite expansive, her expressed or spoken language is lagging.
One of her first words was for cat. We have three of them so it would have been more surprising if she DIDN’T have a word for them. Her word: titty. Yeah, she makes me proud.
We’ve always used the proper words for things, not making up funny names based on one of her mispronunciations. Â (Not at all like my sister who would call my brother Brandon, Biddle. Christopher was Cridofer. Phillip was Luppy And we all called them that for years. Adonis’s niece couldn’t say Uncle so she said Ucky. I like her SO much.) So Maddy, this delightful child of mine didn’t learn to say her K sounds, I didn’t worry, figuring we’d be able to figure what she was saying. Â Well, she doesn’t always put the last sound or letter on a word either. Do you have any idea what “UH” is for? Yeah, me either.
Another sound she doesn’t say AT ALL is the L sound. And its cute. She says she YOVES me and “Me no YIKE dat.” When she wants to put on her nighttime panties, she sounds like she’s talking about a city in Washington : Puhyups. Â Another example: one of her favorite summer time treats are blueberries or booberries. Though booberies could be referring to my nipples. And yeah, I’m just gonna leave that one out there.
Rather than make a big deal over her mispronunciations, I’ve sort of encouraged her creative side, I hope. See, I have a mother who was sort of clever like that. She would change the words to West Side Story’s “Tonight” to Tuna. Its what was for dinner. Yeah.
Maddy got fixated on Superman a few months ago. At bedtime I would read her a few stories, maybe make one up and then kiss her goodnight. She would then ask that Adonis come in and tell her a Superman or “Bad Guy” story. I used to whisper to her as I left the room “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” But soon it became, “Don’t let the Bad Guys bite.” It would send her into a fit of giggles. Also there was “don’t let the Booberries fight.” Sometimes I couldn’t even say the right words if I tried. And she would always correct me.
Last night, we read a couple of books about a silly old bear. We both enjoyed the tale of his springtime hunger and his eating everything in sight. Of course it ended with him unable to fit back into his cave. Cute. So when I was leaving the room, without any forethought, I whispered, “Don’t lick the big bear’s butt.”
Um. Yeah.
Sometimes I miss those mispronunciations….
andrea recently posted..Noted
Oh, each day my daughter’s grammar get better. It makes me so sad. I’ll miss “No me know.”
I was an immediate talker but I was nine when I embarked on that venture. What can I say? I’m a perfectionist and I waited until I knew I could verbally spar with my family before committing to a life of intelligent conversation.
The big bear’s butt tastes awful! Can’t blame anyone for not licking it!
Good to know George. Smart ass.
Both of my kids seem to be a bit delayed in speaking . . . part of me thinks I’m a little too eager to figure out what “uh” and a point means. CJ, at least, knows what we’re saying to him, and we get by that way. Leila – she knows what you’re saying to her, but she doesn’t care & does her own thing (she’s SUCH my kid)
I am curious how your nipples became booberries . . . but, then again, we all are.
Oh, wait, boob berries. Cause that’s what nipples are. Got it.
My mom likes to say that she was worried about my speaking, as I didn’t, until, just one day, I started speaking in full sentences. But, I couldn’t make the “th” sound until the turd grade.
John recently posted..Where bad turns to worse
I so love that you have child who is of her own mind. That just make me smile.
And here is where booberries come from: I was suffering from ANOTHER bout of thrush. So I tried Gentian Violet, applied right to the nipples. And then I made the mistake of bathing with my vocal and curious daughter. Yeah. VERY PURPLE NIPPLES + SHAMELESS CHILD = BOOBERRIES.
You’re welcome.
My kids have most sounds down {they’re older than your lil one} but they mix up letters when doing sentences. i.e. they can say fire and truck separately, but together sometimes it’s trier fuck. Good times.
I’ll have some booberries please
My brother used to yell Fire fuck, fire fuck. My sister says her oldest son says the same thing.
I think I’m missing out on all the fun works with the k sound, damn it.
LOVE the twist ups. So cute.
And yeah sister…I think you’ve shared enough boobs for both of us. Ahem.
When my son was younger he would pronouce ‘tr’ as ‘c’ and ‘uck’ as ‘ock’, and he constantly talked about trucks, big ones, little ones, he wanted more trucks, even daddy’s truck. I think it made my mother-in-law a little uncomfortable.
Again, look at the fun I’m missing!!!!
If I said that last line to my kids they would break out in hysterics and probably not stop for at least 6 hours.
Jess recently posted..When Chickens Attack
That’s what I’m talking about. Fact is, I’m still chuckling over it.
My favorite mispronunciations from my kids came from Karly and had to do with both food and her daycare providers.
She called her first babysitter, whose name was Isobel, “Butterball.” It was the best she could do as a toddler.
As a two-year-old, she called lasagna “MissSonia” after her new preschool teacher whom she adored.
What can I say? Food and love go hand in hand around here…
julie gardner recently posted..Today call me laid
Oh my. I think I love her!
And food and love and hands… yeah. Right there with ya, girlfriend.
We have a dog named Snickelfritz. My young cousin pronounced his name Tickletits.
As a 2nd language English speaker, I always find it damn hard to understand little American kids.
Maddy is too cute. My son Damian is 3 now and we can finally understand everything he says. i hate that one of my teens taught him to say “Mommy buy Damain [Train | Toy | Bus] i hear it 50 times a day and wish we could go back to a year ago when i didn’t know what he was saying half the time. I also hate that he’s taught his two year old sister to say “Mommy buy Damian…”
Vanita recently posted..Why Bloggers Can’t Ignore Google Plus
Sounds like you have your hands full. Mad is an excellent parrot these days. So I’m learning to tame my potty mouth but damn, its hard.
So cute, my youngest still has his toddler voice and I don’t even want him to pronounce everything correctly, love the way he says everything.
Jessica recently posted..With Heart
Those are so endearing! I think it’s adorable that she can’t say L. Speaking of L, my little sister would insert it into words making them even more difficult to pronounce. She was just a little bitty thing and instead of belt, she said blelt. That makes no sense!
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell recently posted..I’m a Dirty, Dirty Sinner
Granted my son said a lot of cute things, but when he was two we asked him if his diaper needed changing and he said, “No, that’s not necessary.” He was a very quiet child and said or made few noises. We wondered who stole our child and gave us a graduate midget.