Tag: words

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Kids/Parenting

Hayden’s Four!

It’s Hayden’s birthday! For someone who has talked about his birthday for six months, he’s not that excited. I told him he was four this morning and he said, “Wight now?”

When Rebecca got up, he told me to “Tell her what I have now.”

I correctly guessed he wanted me to tell her he was four. Hayden came to stand over her, and Rebecca grunted at him to go away, using her sign for “all done/all gone/no more.”

“See wants my fee years old back,” Hayden explained.

Feb 2010 002small

Birthday boy needs a haircut

And to catch up with the kids:

Just a few of the inventions Hayden claims are in “his car” (the red Honda we haven’t driven in years, but still have):

  • wings, so it can fly to Nana
  • guns (that go “pew! pew!”)
  • a machine that makes purple monkeys with sad faces and happy faces
  • two ovens
  • [added later: bathtub]

Some words Hayden puts his personal spin on:
woo — you
wuze — use
Werbecca (still)
foon — spoon (and all other words beginning with sp-, sm-, etc.)
[added later: DVDV (“divvydivvy”) — DVD]

Words Rebecca can say (at 18 months, in the order she learned them as best I can remember):
des/dah (yes/yeah)
dat (that)
Dada (this was a long time before the next ones)
Mama, Nana, Papa
Beebe (baby, sometimes Pinky)
Deesa (Jesus)
oooh (no)
oosh (shoes or juice)
[added later: mmmmooowa (more, which came after Dada), boo’ (book), ba’/bap (bag), ba’ (ball), hi, bye]

Words Rebecca can sign:
more
shoes
cookie/treat
Jesus
milk
apple
cheese
Pinky
Hayden
baby
cracker
clean
no more/all gone/all done/FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY STOP CHANGING MY DIAPER!!!!
[added later: hi, byebye, please, thank you, bread, excuse me]

Body parts Rebecca knows:
Hair
Head
Eyes
Ears
Mouth
Nose
Chin
Tongue
Cheek
Neck
Knees (sometimes)
Feet
Toes
Fingers
Hands
Belly

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Kids/Parenting

I love you but . . .

Sorry about the long silence, folks—between travel and the time-honored family travel tradition (it’s not a vacation until everyone pukes!), we’ve been a little busy.

How many times do we say what we really mean? Probably not as often as we’d like—and much of the time, that’s because we’re not really thinking about the things we say.

This is one of those words that we use all the time, but I doubt many of us think about what it means. When I catch myself using it—in two phrases in particular—I realize what I’ve said and how empty and unkind it suddenly sounds.

The word is but. In English, this conjunction signals a reversal in a sentence. We establish something in the first clause, but we’re going to say something contrary to that in the same breath.

So when I hear myself saying I love you, but . . . or I’m sorry, but . . ., especially to my children, I mentally flinch. Did I really mean to take back the first part of that sentence? Am I trying to tell them that I don’t love him as much because he hit his sister, or that I’m not really that sorry I yelled at him, since he really deserved it?

Of course not. So when I catch these phrases on their say to my lips, I stop myself. I end the sentence (and the mental paragraph) with “I love you.” Pause. Then I explain the rest of what I need to say. Because no matter what they do, I still love them, and I can still feel sorry for anything I’ve done to hurt them. My feelings for them are not predicated on their actions.

Do my kids realize this? No. They’re 3 and 1. But I want to be careful about what messages I send to my children, even now.

What do you think? What things do you find yourself wishing you didn’t say to your children?

Photo by Brittany Greene

Categories
Kids/Parenting

The growing vocabulary of a growing boy

The Haydicon and the dictionary of Haydenese continue to grow—and change. As he learns new words and sounds, he grows out of some of his old “baby talk,” and it’s sad to see it go. For example, “nanee” (candy) is slowly becoming “tanee” (which is a little strange, since he can pronounce a c/k sound, but only does for certain words).

Here are some of his latest Haydenisms:

turkey i’ saw (“Turkey in the Straw,” the song the ice cream truck plays)
yedder (letter, by extension, anything that is rectangular)
yunt/yunch (lunch, namely, a sandwich)
Whissers (Whiskers, the cat)
dasses (glasses)
tontack (this morning he had to put in his ‘tontacks’ This involved fiddling with his fingers, then nearly touching his eyes.)
dama (pajamas)
dip dip (zip zip; not to be confused with “dip dip dip,” ranch dressing)
fum? (I wonder who it’s from, always in conjunction with a letter)
sum (thumb)
hrends (friends, who the letter is from)
hridge (fridge)
dum (drum)
pain (plane)
owie (a hangnail/snag on my nail/broken nail, or regular owies)
tain (train)
tassel (castle)
belt (belt or bell)
fah me (follow me)
sose (close)
tick (kick; how we turn out the lights before bed)
winkle sar (twinkle star, and yes, that is its “proper” name)
tissies (kisses)
toas’ (toast)
toesies (toes)
tanee (candy, evolved from “nanee,” though the two are currently in what we linguists call “free variation” (he uses them both))
tandle/tannel (candle, this is evolved from “nandle/nannel/nanu”)
tout (cut)
messy? (What’s missing?)
nunners (another)
nummer (number)
gedder (together)
ay yub it (“I love it!”)
pug (plug, usually as “puggit”)
hrink (drink)
sert (shirt)
sorts (shorts)
pats (pants)
c’ock (clock, especially cute when someone asks him a question about time, since he knows to mention the clock)
wight! (Usually repeating whatever you’ve just said, such as “C’ock, wight!” in a very encouraging tone)
yewwow (all colors)
geen (second guess for all colors)
hware (square)
seerkle (circle)
pizza (triangle. And pizza.)

I hate making these lists because I know that I’ll always forget something. Most days I just wish we had a camera on the child all the time, so finally everyone in the world could understand what an adorable little boy he is—and especially his adult imitation. It’s getting pretty good!

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Kids/Parenting

Crazy talk

Hayden’s at the age where he learns new words every day. Here are some of the latest additions to his vocabulary:

With my parents and most of my sisters around all last week, I got called by my first name a lot more than normal—enough that Hayden started calling me “Dordee,” and especially “Mom—Mom—Dordee.” (Don’t worry, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing; today when I asked him what my name was, he said it was “Haydie.”)

Yesterday I went in to get him up from his nap and he was jumping in his crib. He looked at me and said “kay see” several times, then shook his head wildly.

Hayden and his upside down trick, 26 months

It took me a minute to figure out that he was saying “crazy.” Which is usually one of the first things I say to him when he wakes up in one of these (wonderful, entertaining) manic moods.

This morning, we were in the grocery store and I sad, “Oh man!” Hayden repeated his version, something between “Oh men!” and “Oh min!” And then he added something that—I swear—sounded like “Bite me.” No idea where that one came from.

Today we were sitting in my room and he started gathering up loose clothes and papers from around the room, stuffing them into an empty box. As he did so, he would burst out with “Eee op! Eee op!” Luckily, I know the words to that song: “Clean up.”

I worky!Hayden’s newest favorite hobby is a bit alarming to me. He hops up in front of any available computer, starts playing with the mouse and keyboard and proclaims “I worky!” He is very devoted to his profession (whatever that is; probably something as nebulous as mine).

I promise, I really don’t work that much while he’s awake. I’ve been a bit worse lately about working while he’s awake, with him so obsessed with Blue’s Clues and all, but this? This is dedication.

Categories
Kids/Parenting

The guide to Haydenese

Y’know, I always looked a bit askance at the parents who could hear their child say something that didn’t apparently have any consonants and interpret that into a paragraph’s worth of meaning. Until Sunday night.

We had a big family get together this weekend for Easter dinner. Hayden was his usual, babbly self—but oddly enough, I found myself translating from “Haydenese” for his aunts and uncles. I sounded like one of “those” parents: “He said, ‘Sorry,'” and “He means, ‘Brown milk.’ You know, chocolate milk.”

Haydenese. Veiled meanings abound.
Hayden. Veiled child. Veiled meanings.

Strange; doesn’t everyone spend 12 hours a day listening to my son talk?

Many of his words are recognizable, but since the rest of my family is coming to visit this weekend, I figured a guide to Haydenese would be useful, so I’m not the 24/7 on-call interpreter again.

Sour? Did you take a shower?/May I play in the shower?/May I please join you in the shower?
Dape Squeegee from my shower (possibly from ‘scrape’)
Maaaeeewww! Mail! Or newspaper.
Sah-ee Sorry
Hritch or hrits Fridge
Row (rhymes with “wow”) Brown, meaning brown milk/chocolate milk/chocolate syrup
Dates or days Thanks
Be Blanket (crucial to playing Night Night).
P A letter of the alphabet (any letter)
Eetee Itchy
Weedee Reading
Two Any number greater than one, another, both, two blankets
Yipe Wipe
Reet Reach
Cee May mean ceiling, especially if he’s just handed you a ball
Pan Fan (again, especially if he’s just handed you a ball)
Ba’ pa’ Back pack or Mickey Mouse
Morny Marty
A’morny! Good morning!
I habit? May I please have it?
Boose Blue’s Clues
Yuboo I love you.
Derediz There it is
Yuhwekuh or Ahwekuh You’re welcome (a new addition to his vocab!)

Anything I’ve missed?