Baby Talk

I just love listening to baby talk.  If everyone sounded this cute learning to speak a language, everyone would be fluent in multiple languages.

In the last 6 weeks or so, Nellie has really started talking a lot.  She says so many things I have lost count of her word knowledge.  It is so fun to finally get a glimpse of what is going on in that little head. She can be very demanding and quite picky (with foods and her mode of transport, walking, carrying, etc)

Some of my favorite things to hear are of course all of our names.  She calls Andy Da, Dada, Dad and me Ma, Mama, Mom.  Caleb is Tabe (table without the l), Cabee, Or Cayib.  Although she can say Lucy she usually just says "C", which is funny because we sometimes call Caleb that. She used to call Toby Tobo, but now it is usually Toy.  She is also good at Neyee (Nellie with the l's as a y).

She answers me to every question with her hand raised, just like the big kids. She can say "me please" but likes to say "me's" instead.  She says "help" if she needs help.  If she bumps into you, she says "sorry".  She says "bless you" when anyone sneezes and "one" (with one finger up) when you ask her how old she is.

She says "diaper" and "change you".  She will not let me get her out of her crib without also grabbing a diaper and wipe.  I keep telling her that when she goes on the potty she can wear undies and she just laughs.  (I will not push it as I HATE potty training, but Lucy was wearing underwear full-time starting at 19 months.  Nellie will be 17 months after Thanksgiving.)

She can say a ton of animal names and their sounds, cow, owl, sheep, horse, monkey, gorilla, dog, cat, wolf, lion, tiger, duck.  I am sure I am forgetting some.  She can say and identify many body parts: hair, ears, eyes, head, cheeks, teeth, mouth, tongue, eyes, nose, chin, arm, hand, fingers, tummy, legs, feet, toes.

She sometimes puts 3 or 4 words sentences together.  Her first 3 word one was "I Love You Too," which was pretty awesome.

She sometimes talks paragraphs of nonsense but is trying so hard.  She does this to "read" aloud too.

Baby talk may be one of the cutest things, but it is so fleeting.  Pretty soon they are talking just like everyone else.

Another favorite part of my kids learning to talk is that I (usually) understand them, but have to translate for everyone else.