An increasing vocabulary

When Babies Talk

When babies talk the whole world listens. After all another little being has just made his presence heard!

Little P’s first word was “DA”.

We were stunned when he first uttered this word for it was the first sound that he said with intention. For us it was akin to God speaking.

And when Da became DADA and DADADADADA we were even more happy! Every passing day P’s  DA became more meaningful :  when he pointed and said DA it meant “look”; when he opened and closed his outstretched palm and said DA it meant “give it to me” and the more frantic the gesturing and louder the DA signified the urgency with which he wanted  the thing. A questioning DA meant “do you really want me to do it?” while a firm DA meant a “NO”.

Gradually we began understanding his words. Dada meant any human being right from his parents to other people. DIVA meant light as in lamp and Da became De which signified “give me”. Soon he went on to the PA sound and started saying “Pankha” for fan and “Pampa” for our cook who happened to be named thus and was his favourite person (apart from his grandfather) because she operated his favourite thing that whirred – the mixer. Little P would come running from wherever he was in the house once this fascinating machine was switched on…….

In fact that became his next bit of communication – the spinning or whirring action which he indicated by waving his index finger in a circle and trying to say “whrr”. Thus he would point out to fans, the washing machine, wheels and anything that went round and round.

After DA came MA and this sound was used to identify food. So food became Mum-mum.. MMMM meant cow and UMMMM meant mango which he loved. The next word that he learnt was TING which was the word he used before he flung anything. This was particularly useful in directing food missiles after his meal.  Ting was replaced by TUNG which then became the official word for “throw”.

BUB-BUB is a dog while BUB BUB BUB means bubbles. Soon  he realized the difference between his father and other humans and began calling him BABA but mother was still identified by the generic DA till he finally realised that she was his AAI. My husband became his ABU, his great grandfather and great grandmother PA N NA while I became AZEE

But DA developed into DEE for his dahi or curds and DEE DEE for his milk before it became the more commonly known DOO DOO. And he soon learnt to hiss the sibilant ssssss when he peed like a big boy in his bath. He learnt to say DING DONG when the door bell rang and now he has even begun “counting” with words like “Tee”, “teeee” and “tunh” while he puts his toys away in a box one by one.

Every day he learns new words like “PaPay” for papaya, “pum” for plum. Yesterday he astonished us all by calling the playing cards “Pat Tay” and mimicked my request for a cheese toast by a cute little “ Chee Toe”.  “Bay Bey” is baby as also the iPad which records his photos and videos.

And sounds become words

So gradually the vocabulary of my little man is beginning  to grow from an infant’s  helpless wail to meaningful sounds and gestures. His communication which is both verbal and non like raising his hand up and pretending to hold an umbrella to indicate an umbrella (his absolute passion), to rocking when he hears music he likes,  grinning endearingly when he wants to be cutely irresistible and persuasive , bashfully putting his head in my lap to indicate embarrassment or remorse or otherwise boldly staring you  in the face off defying you to back off when holding his ground, looking longingly at my bag or the pacifier box , pointing out and whimpering  “unha, unha, unha” , with wrinkled forehead  and anguished eyes are signs that my little man is growing up.

Our little P is turning out to be quite the blabberer , not in the least surprising since all of us at home are not shy about making our voices heard! unusual for a baby who is surrounded by chronic talkers). His vocabulary is amazing with his own words like

king kong for crayon and king king for watermelon  (kalingad in Marathi). He can identify all modes of transport from Panes in the sky to Gabage Tuck, Mixer ( for the cement mixer) water tanker, nee naw for ambulance, trucks, tractors and even road diggers and excavators.

He now communicates effectively by pointing out to things and naming them and even saying actions. He counts to 20 in both English and Marathi and sings along with the Wheels of the Bus, Happy Birthday and many popular nursery rhymes. He has his favourite stories too and actually loves happy endings. There are times when he distinctly wants to hear a story or a song and frowns and shakes his head saying “no no no” when he’s not up for it or is unhappy with the way the story ends.

 My favourite

But the form of communication I like most of all is when he gives me a hug, then draws back a bit, cups my face in his hands, gives me a big, inscrutable stare with unmoving eyes and then envelopes me in a tight squeeze cuddle that says it all.