I knew I’d love it when Shmoo started to work his language skillz. We get a window into what’s going on in his mind—how much of what we say he picks up on, the associations he makes, and what interests him. Here are some favorites from the past few days, with translations for those who don’t speak Shmooese.
wawa wow-wuhw (pointing at the front door) = water flowers. The Easter Bunny—aka my parents—brought Shmooie a toddler-sized watering can and he is now obsessed with watering the pansies and snap dragons on the front porch. We think this is his first real sentence, unless you count earlier commands such as “up Dada.”
“sh!” “dzzznn!” (pointing at the computer) = fish! train! Another recent obsession is the Kneebouncers website. He cannot get enough of those zany animals and their madcap adventures. Thanks for the tip, NME! (Her March 30, 2006 entry. Guess I can’t permalink it.)
’ot = hot. Pans on the stove, lit candles, and so forth. We taught him to blow on his food to cool it off, so if he declares something is ’ot (even room temperature rice), he will blow on it. I suppose it’s very empowering for a toddler to be able to alter his environment in this way. Yesterday he said ’ot as he sat in the tub. He then leaned down and blew on his bath water. Does the cuteness know no bounds?
’ot Mama. What do you suppose he was pointing at when he said this? No, I wish it had been me. He was pointing at a coffee mug. When he used to grab at my coffee mug I would always say “That’s Mama’s drink. It’s hot.” The logical association with coffee mug therefore has become ’ot Mama. But I may have to specially order an “’ot Mama” t-shirt all the same.
Glad Schmoo is digging Kneebouncers. The Sesame site has some good stuff too. Including peek-a-boo that is similar to kneebouncers: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/games/flash.php?contentId=4203178
Posted by: Niki | May 04, 2006 at 02:57 PM