I've just watched a video of ZygoteDaddy's toddler, Red, reading a book. On each page, an adult (possibly his daddy, but it's not clear) points at something on the page and asks, 'What's that?'
'Buh-dubba-dah,' answers Red, confidently. Next page.
'What's that?'
'Buh-dubba-dah.'
And so on.
Olivia's much the same. She even has a similar vocal tick that she says all the time, although hers is, 'Dubba-dubba-dubba-dubba'.
It's frustrating for toddlers. They spent a lot of their time taking great effort to tell you things, and all you hear is 'Bud-Dubba-Dah' or 'Dubba-dubba-dubba-dubba' with the occasional real word chucked in, and then laughing at them. And you do laugh, because it's funny.
Occasionally, you feel like a heel, like tonight when I finally worked out the reason she wouldn't settle down and go to sleep was because she had a nappy full of especially noxious bottom gifts. She'd been telling me for ages, but because I'd only changed her half an hour before when she did a poo, I hadn't considered it an option. Most of the time, it's just funny.
Olivia has now picked up on saying, 'Yeah' in response to questions. Sometimes you can get her to answer whether she has a dirty nappy. The trouble is that 'Yeah' sometimes genuinely means, 'Yes, Father, I do have soiled undergarments - how clever of you to spot it - and would be greatly appreciative if you could affect a change,' and sometimes it just means, 'I randomly answer questions with the word 'yeah', because, in case you haven't remembered, I'm a toddler and I have a pretty limited vocabulary, actually'.
My very helpful reaction to the fact that you can pretty much make her say 'yeah' to anything as long as you ask in the right tone of voice, is to take pleasure in asking her, 'Do you want the moon on a stick?' and getting her to respond in the affirmative. I realise this means nothing to anyone who wasn't into the 90s comedy series 'Fist of Fun' but I find it enormously satisfying.
'Buh-dubba-dah,' answers Red, confidently. Next page.
'What's that?'
'Buh-dubba-dah.'
And so on.
Olivia's much the same. She even has a similar vocal tick that she says all the time, although hers is, 'Dubba-dubba-dubba-dubba'.
It's frustrating for toddlers. They spent a lot of their time taking great effort to tell you things, and all you hear is 'Bud-Dubba-Dah' or 'Dubba-dubba-dubba-dubba' with the occasional real word chucked in, and then laughing at them. And you do laugh, because it's funny.
Occasionally, you feel like a heel, like tonight when I finally worked out the reason she wouldn't settle down and go to sleep was because she had a nappy full of especially noxious bottom gifts. She'd been telling me for ages, but because I'd only changed her half an hour before when she did a poo, I hadn't considered it an option. Most of the time, it's just funny.
Olivia has now picked up on saying, 'Yeah' in response to questions. Sometimes you can get her to answer whether she has a dirty nappy. The trouble is that 'Yeah' sometimes genuinely means, 'Yes, Father, I do have soiled undergarments - how clever of you to spot it - and would be greatly appreciative if you could affect a change,' and sometimes it just means, 'I randomly answer questions with the word 'yeah', because, in case you haven't remembered, I'm a toddler and I have a pretty limited vocabulary, actually'.
My very helpful reaction to the fact that you can pretty much make her say 'yeah' to anything as long as you ask in the right tone of voice, is to take pleasure in asking her, 'Do you want the moon on a stick?' and getting her to respond in the affirmative. I realise this means nothing to anyone who wasn't into the 90s comedy series 'Fist of Fun' but I find it enormously satisfying.
you have to be a detective to figure it all out. ducks, and by extension most birds, are ak-aks. so a feather is ffffff - ak-ak. crocodiles are snap-snaps. The first time he picked up a slug, I shrieked "Yuk" so now snails and slugs are yuks and yuk-yuks. Telephones are "'allo"s. Shoes are doos. Feet are also doos.down is down, but up is "up-down," which I imagine translates as the sort of down where you end up higher, which makes sense to me. Anything pink is immediately identified as ra-ra's (clara's). So if he is choosing something, and he wants to choose a pink one, rara means pink! confused? you will be....?
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