>Tony and I don’t do baby-talk with our kids. We never have, not even from the earliest days with them. Simplified, one or two word sentences? Yes. But not baby words. Water has always been water, never wa-wa, even though that was how they pronounced it in the beginning. And their perversions of other words – pasketti for spaghetti, manimal for animal, etc – were their own. When they’ve pronounced words incorrectly we’ve repeated them back in their correct forms, both to teach them how to say it the right way and to make sure they know we understand what they’re trying to say.
I don’t know if this method we’ve used has helped with their language development, but it certainly hasn’t hurt. Just this morning, Bug told me a story that began, “Mommy, guess what? One day…” and although I listen to this kid prattle on all day long, every day, it still shocks me that he can have real conversations with not just me and Tony, but with other adults as well.
So when he started talking about his may-may I had NO clue what he was talking about. “I need to get my may-may,” he repeated over and over, and I just couldn’t comprehend what he was talking about. “What’s a may-may?” I asked him, and he said, “My packpack” (backpack). So I’ve gone along with it because he obviously has come up with this term on his own and it works for him, but it still stumped me.
And then as I sat down to write this post he walked over, tiny stuffed hamster in hand and said, “See, Mommy? My may-may.” He had put it in his backpack several days earlier and just found it.
I was relieved. More importantly than understanding what he was talking about, though, was the fact that I get it now. May-may is his hamster’s name. He named it himself.
It’s a huge leap from the previous way he’d named his toys: Big Baby and Little Baby; Care Bear. Because he’s assigned it an identity that has nothing to do with its appearance, but because of who it is. He’s growing up.
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>I am a true believer of talking to children the way that you do as well, however, I have to admit that once in a while a cutsie word does slip out, I just can't help it!I finally added you to my blog roll today, hope that is ok?!
Posted by Multi-tasking Mommy | January 13, 2010, 19:12>OK so when your wife comments before you about your parenting style, there's not much point in adding, is there?
Posted by SciFi Dad | January 13, 2010, 20:37>Too cute!We don't baby-talk either. But sometimes we pick up on Evie's words and use them as our own.Hanitizer = hand sanitizeralonely = alone and lonelynormular = normal and regularMy husband works in a lab, and now all the guys use the word "hanitizer." Cracks me up…
Posted by SarahHub | January 14, 2010, 04:13