‘Parents of Toddler’ Language

I knew the day would come when James would understand the things we said.  I never realized how much it would change the way my husband and I communicate however.  There are some terms in our house that are becoming more then norm rather than the exception simply to thwart the meltdown that would ensue at the mere mention of certain things.

Bananas being right smack at the top of the list.  We now eat “Yellow Oblong Fruit”.  James doesn’t know what those words mean, but he does know that 4 or 5 bananas a day is the perfect diet in his world.

Popsicles are another.  We refer to those as “Frozen Yummy Goodness” or “P-O-P -ikles”.  Again, 8 or 9 of those little gems in a day would suit him just fine.

Now we jumped on this just in time to start teaching James what some things aren’t exactly called. For instance we can talk about M&M’s until we are blue in the face and he doesn’t have a clue.  Not because he doesn’t know what they are – but because to him, their proper name is “Treats”.  And as far as he’s concerned, they only come 4 to a package.  One checkout line sized bag can last us weeks.

We have also become spelling bee champions.  From anything referring to going on a W-A-L-K, to playing in the S-A-N-D-B-O-X requires a pen and paper.

As much as we have adapted to his understanding, we have also had to learn to understand as well.  We have had to learn that “ousKeem” means ice cream, whipped cream, and butt cream but hopefully not all at the same time.  “Sinbok” is the sandbox.  “Knock” is milk (thank goodness he can sign that as well, I don’t always get it right away).  My favorite is “Cerea-oooos” is Cherrios cereal (get it!).  “Pig” is bacon, pork chops or ham (thank you Scott) clearly we can never watch Babe or visit a zoo.  And last but not least – this one took a looong time to figure out – you say it 50 times fast and you’ll see why – “Peenies” is Jelly Beans (I think he’s going for Beanies but he has completely missed the mark).  These are just a few, there are many many more.

I didn’t mean to bore you with this but I was listening to James ramble about nothing today and as the average person probably wouldn’t understand a word of it, I knew exactly what he was talking about.  Thus is the secret language of Parents and Toddlers.

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