Bitti’s vocabulary is certainly growing exponentially. But the precision with which she pronounces the words is still less than lucid. Here are some of my favourite mispronunciations of hers:
- bappy = nappy
- croca = crocodile
- cuggle = cuddle (best)
- ba-be = bunny
- raaf = giraffe
One thing she can pronounce is ‘no’. That little word has been getting a work out lately since she decided that wearing shoes is akin to surrendering her soul to Oprah.
I’m not sure what it is about them that offends her so, but she’s become a barefoot babe around town since it started. I’m looking forward to it being over because her little feet are getting trashed walking barefoot everywhere, and I’d like them to keep their baby-freshness for a while longer. Especially since I have to kiss them goodnight…
Last week Bitti actually helped me out, using her new language skills. We were eating breakfast and when I got up to wash my bowl in the sink she started pointing at me and saying ‘hair’. I nodded along, thinking this was just another showing off session with a word she’d recently learnt.
But she kept saying it and pointing at me. I went over to her and she finally got out ‘back!’ in a frustrated voice while gesticulating wildly, pointing at her hair, my hair and trying to point around me. I turned so my back was to her and she said triumphantly, ‘Hair!! There!!’.
I thought maybe she’d spotted a hair on my back with her laser sharp vision and unusually strong anomaly detector. I swept my hand across and discovered a hair band stuck to the velcro of my board shorts back pocket. Well, she knew what she was saying after all! Saved me from walking around all day with a hair band stuck to my arse, thanks kiddo.
The baby linguist 