May 17th, 2005
First Few Words
» baby footprints
The diamond encrusted mouth is slowly opening; we are getting a few semi intelligible words from the Yauyau. The “mum mum” she babbled long ago was probably some sound she was trying to make, and the “bear” she so clearly blurted out her mouth was only a one-day-happening.
Some weeks ago, while James and I were waiting for the rest of the family to arrive at a resturant, Yauyau saw me and greeted me with a loud and most accurately pronounced “mama” when she saw me. That was so sweet and made the meal tasted exceptionally delicious. Just as I thought she finally knows how to address me, she also started calling “mama” every now and then and referring them to any ah lian or ah soh on the TV. Argh, I am mama, and so is everyone else. So far, she has not started calling any uncle or ah peh she sees as “baba”.
Her first few words consist of two fruits, two animals and an adjective. “ah peh” is her “apple”, “nana” is her favourite “banana”, “berd” is the chirpy “bird”, “godd” for “dog” (which she likes to chase), and “ord” for “hot”. It is not difficult to understand that those are the few most common words that she comes across everyday and are also her favourite. She learnt the word “hot” the hard way. The pain she experienced when she touched the oven probably left a deep impression and she goes ” ord, ord ord” whenever she sees the oven or when we hold a drinking mug (irregardless whether it is hot or not).
However, I am quite puzzled why her first few words are all in English. We only speak Mandarin to her, only Indar speaks English to her. Does it mean I have not been talking enough to her? Or are those words easier to pronounce in English?
May 17th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
we have the same ‘problem’ here. Tim says something similar to “godd” instead of “dog”… took me to figure out what he was saying… Later i realised that he is speaking in Mandarin
May 17th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
Hahaaa…Ryan is also like that…he tends to associates some words with other meanings of his own as well. For example, “daaaaTTT” is not only refering to Daddy, it also refers to Grandpa and also any man on the drivers’ seat. He called the cab-driver “daaaaTTT” as well.
“Ma-ma” for Ryan now refers to my MIL (think Teochew), much to my chagrin and confusion but since he calls me “MaaaaMMM” for mummy, I just let it be. Seems he calls “ma-ma” every now and then too, not necessarily directed to Grandma, so I was thinking maybe he’s just “practising” his words.
Definitely fun days ahead, especially when your child starts speaking more and more words.
May 18th, 2005 at 9:53 am
I have the perception that toddlers seem to have a better grasp in the English language..the same applies to my son. His first few words were ..”bird”, “ball”, “nana” (as in banana) funny why all words begin with the alphabet “b”…hmmm. Even though my mum being the main care giver (i’m a full time working mum) speaks Mandarin to him..i guess all those words are easier than “xiao(2) niao(3)”, “pi(2) qui(2)”, “xiang(1) jiao(1)”…haha…:)
I totally agree with dory…more fun days ahead, enjoy it!!
May 21st, 2005 at 2:36 am
my boy of 2 yr old, thou knowing and calling me as mummy for a few mths, but he also call the newspresenters on TV mummy, and the guys news presenter daddy! same to some other gals in TV shows .. so u are not alone and yau yau is still so young
maybe i shd get worried now hehee