As a two-year-old, CB is learning new words everyday, just like the Baby Websites said that he would. (What did parents ever do before the Baby Websites? I shudder to think.) His skill of recognition amazes us; we’ll walk by a hot dog restaurant, and he’ll point and yell, “OT DAW!”
While we’re impressed with his burgeoning language skills, is it bad that we take advantage of the times when he doesn’t quite get it right? Like he’ll say something, and we totally know what he means, but we’ll play dumb because he didn’t say the exact word. For example:
Last night, CM and I, both weary and hungry, were eating hamburgers for a late dinner. CB had dinner at the church nursery (around 5:30 pm) and ate a few snacks when we got home. It was right before his bedtime. It wasn’t ideal timing, but we had to eat before it got too late into the night to eat burgers in good conscience.
When CB saw what I was eating, he pointed and said, “Ot daw!” – his way of declaring that he wanted a bite of the hot dog I was eating. I knew exactly what he meant, but because he asked for a hot dog instead of the hamburger, I just played dumb and said, “There are no hot dogs here, son. Go play with your car…”
A couple of minutes later, he gave it another shot: “Pancay!”
“I’m sorry, son. We don’t have any pancakes.” Munch. And scoot my plate to keep him from getting a better look at what Daddy is eating.
This little game of semantics is perfect for keeping CB from eating things that we don’t want him to. Other examples include
“Cookie!”
“I’m sorry, son. There are no cookies here.” Munch on chocolate chip pancakes when he’s not looking.
“Mooey!”
“Son, we don’t have any smoothies.” Distract him, then slurp down my milkshake.
I wonder how long we can keep this game up and just how technical we’re going to get. I may feel bad if it got to the point of
“Chocolate ice cream in sugar cone!”
“I don’t see any chocolate ice cream in sugar cone here, son. Look at that tree!!” Quiet bite from my chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone.
You could call it a mean little game, but like everything else, it’s for his own good. It’s all about honing his vocabulary skills because we don’t want him to confuse one noun for another. Or at least that’s what we’re telling ourselves.
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- HUGE Gator news: I’m not watching the game alone
- V-Day report
- What do you want your kid to be when he/she grows up? (I want Cool Baby to be a knight, sort of)
- More from the sickbed
- A simple question regarding snack food and an unreliable cargo plane
to quote paul hewson…”you’re so cruel!” would you also give your son a stone if he asked for bread? (I admit, I might do that if the particular bread he wanted had a lot of sugar in it.) we are the worst!
- 10 cool points!
I really thought he said rattlesnake, not goldfish.
that meant minus 10 cool points, to be clear =(
Isn’t it CRAZY how fast he’s learning words?! Annalyn is insane with the vocabulary these days. I was trying to write them all down in a list, but I can’t keep up!
As for your little semantics game, yes, I do believe it’s pretty mean. Then again, my child threw one heck of a fit tonight at Walmart because we insisted she ride in the cart instead of pushing it.
Mean, mean parents.
Great idea: we should write all of these down! It’s hard to tell what he’s learned and what he’s mimicking for the moment. Fortunately, the line between the two is getting more and more blurred.
Hey, you don’t get good SAT verbal scores with no practice in the first 3 years. Keep up the good work, Cool Parents!
Thanks, Kara! Though I think that CB needs to start studying for SATs. To get in a good preschool.
“While we’re impressed by his burgeoning language skills, is it bad that we take advantage of the times when he doesn’t quite get it right?”
Absolutely! I agree with this Paul guy. You are cruel. Shame on you both! I believe it was Benjamin Franklin that once said, “Let them eat cake!”
(I said “I believe” I didn’t say it was right.)
I think he said ‘Let me eat cake… I just got on the $20!’