Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Toddler talk

Listening to a toddler learn to talk amuses me. My youngest (now two and a half) is really working hard on conversation now. He often walks up to me, stares earnestly into my eyes, and utters long, complex sentences, some of which are perfectly comprehensible and some of which sound like complete gibberish to me.

He comes up with funny words, too. For example, for weeks a convertible was a "dragon." I have no idea where this word came from, but when he saw a convertible, he invariably got very excited and shouted, "Look! A dragon!" Now he calls them "converpipples." A convertible with its top raised is called a "ragtop," and he has not yet figured out that what he calls a "converpipple" is simply a ragtop with its top down. To him, they are two entirely different categories of automobile.

He is developing quite a vocabulary, but I often have to strain to understand him. He loves it when we pass construction sites and his big brother tells him the correct words for the machinery. He took to yelling "Bo-bozer!" and "weewoder" when we passed construction sites, somewhat to my puzzlement. His brother had to explain to me he meant "bulldozer" and "wheel loader."

And since he's two, his favorite word is naturally very simple and straightforward: "NO!!!!!"

3 comments:

  1. Kidspeak, it's fun! The two year old is saying things like "greeps" for grapes. She cracks us up.

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  2. Hi Ellen! Nice to see you in the blogosphere again.

    Cindy

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  3. What an adorable post! My children have grown up but remembrances like what you shared are the jewels of the memory.

    Congrats on your author successes!!! I'm pleased to have found your blog. I'm also a writer but not book pubbed yet.
    Hugs, JJ

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