September 23, 2008
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Translating Toddler Talk
Melena is a talker. We were honestly worried from the beginning that Brandon would do all her talking for her, since he likes to talk a lot, but no, she’s shown us that she can talk as much as, or even more than, her big brother, and that’s a huge feat. She also talks in complete sentences, most of which I don’t understand. I do understand a few things, though, because they’re really clear. When you give her something new to eat (chocolate milk!), she will excitedly exclaim “I like it!” or “I likey!”. She will point outside and say “go outside”, she says bye-bye (often inappropriately), can now say “Brandon” instead of just calling him “Bah-Bah”, though she still calls him “Bah-Bah”, and has even been known to say “I love you”. She says “up”, “down”, “done”, “night night”, “bath” (that one is usually said like this: “BATH!!!!!!!!1″). The list goes on and on.
There are a few phrases she babbles, though, that we can’t make any sense of. They’re phrases she uses a lot, and we try to understand the context and / or usage, but they baffle us. Until now. One phrase, in particular, she uses as an exclamation, it appears, and it sounds like “oohdadap!”. It has been puzzling us for DAYS, but I think I’ve broken the code.
She said it again at breakfast today, and with a little more clarity. I could be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure “oohdadap” is “Oh, SHUT UP!”
Craig now calls her his little valley girl.
EDIT: Okay, so “oohdadap” may also mean “ooh what’s that?”. The jury’s still out.
