Danielisms

Daniel’s vocabulary continues to grow, and he amazes us or gives us the giggles daily.  I’m learning how to bite my lip and not display my amusement so that nothing inappropriate is reinforced.  But damn, it’s hard not to laugh.  His sentence structure has progressed too, and his statements have become more complex.  It has been impressive to watch how he acquired speech and has moved from words and simple phrases to sentences with subjects, predicates, objects and modifiers.    It is awesome watching this little person become, well, a person before our eyes.

A few of Daniel’s new phrases are scatalogical in nature (I credit day care):

Daniel, gleefully: There’s a poo poo in my butt

Me (biting lip):  Let’s not say butt.  Let’s say bottom or hiney instead.

Daniel: Bottom or hiney or BUTT!  (guffaws)

He’s also become adept at commands:

Daniel:  Mommy, do not point (tickle, kiss, etc) at me.

or

Daniel:  Mommy, you are NOT sad (when I made a face at a sad part in a book)

He’s also renamed himself:

Me:  Doodle Bear (a nickname since he’s been a baby), bring me your plate.

Daniel:  Mommy, do not call me that anymore.  I am Hiro Bear (one of his trains).

Life is never dull with him.  I wonder what he’ll come up with next?!?!

Counting Expletives

Daniel is fascinated with the alphabet and numbers right now and loves saying the letters and counting out loud. While his overall pronunciation is good, he has a little trouble pronouncing some letters and numbers correctly. Some of his mispronunciation is adorable, such as the way he says seven “heh heh” and X “eck eck.” One mispronunciation verges on profane. MIL pointed out yesterday that the way he says six sounds like “shit.” Today I listened closely, and sure enough, she’s right. Right now, it’s adorable, but I wonder what reactions we will get the first time he says it at preschool or in public!?!?

I’m rather fond of expletives, and they slip out of my mouth fairly easily. I like to explain this by noting that I have a degree in English and that naturally I’m a fan of all of the language and its uses, including its bad words. Yeah, that’s pretentious. The truth is that I really like the punch an expletive gives a sentence. Sometimes nothing conveys your meaning better than a profanity. Daniel is saying new words constantly and is entering that mimic stage, so J and I have talked about how we need to tone down any salty language. We might even put a fine system in place. A quarter a bad word perhaps? Or maybe I can take this opportunity to come up with substitutes that provide the same punch as the real word. The “Frak” used in Battlestar Galactica might work.

When I was little, my younger cousin and I taught his little sister how to cuss. Nothing cuter than a toddler saying bad words, right? We thought it was hysterical, but looking back with mommy eyes, I’m appalled!

***

J and I have birthdays roughly two weeks apart in September and we celebrated them at The Angus Barn on Friday night. Daniel stayed with MIL, and we had a very rare night alone. It was great being able to sleep in, but we both kept commenting on how quiet the house was without Daniel (though our three cats tried very hard to make up for it). When J returned from picking up Daniel on Saturday, Daniel’s pitter patter on the floor and his excited “Mommy” were the sweetest sounds. Within a few minutes, we were watching cartoons, listening to him roll his trains across the floor and talk to them. Noise. Perfect.

Cuddling Daddy after coming home