In Other Words

Lucy has started talking more recently. She's putting more words together. She's trying new words. She's occasionally repeating words. She's in no hurry, but it's fun to hear how she expresses herself. And it often takes some effort to piece together what she's saying. Sometimes it requires some interpretation.

The All-Purpose Preposition & Conjunction
Although "up" can be a preposition, Lucy never uses it that way. It's only an adverb to show where she or something else should go or has gone. And it can also mean "down." Lucy's one preposition is "a." It's like she's speaking French or Spanish. Where do you want to go? A mama. (To mama.) But Lucy's "a" can also mean "with" or "in." She goes to the pool "a mama" (with mama). Her stuffed cat sleeps "a beepbeep" (in the car). "A" is also what she says for "and." When I ask her if her mama loves her, she nods and says, "a dada" (and dada). I'm not sure if this means that Daddy also loves her or that Mama loves Daddy as well as Lucy, but it's pretty sweet.

Sounds Like
Many of Lucy's "words" are still onomatopoeia. A car or microwave is a "beep" or "beepbeep" because those are the sounds they make. Same with using "choo choo" for train. All animals other than ducks and bees are called by the sounds she thinks they make. Cows are "moos." Chickens are "doodle-doos." Monkeys are "oo-oos" or "oo-oo-ee-ees." Frogs are "bee-yoats" (her version of ribbit). Dogs are dogs, but she thinks that's what they say instead of woof or ruff or bark. Sleep is "oo-ee-oo-ee-oo," her impression of my fake snoring when we play. The other day she said, "Meow-meow a oo-oo oo-ee-oo-ee-oo a beepbeep." That's a six word sentence that means "Cat and monkey sleep in the car." Indeed, they do.

Acting Up
Sometimes Lucy mimes what she's trying to say, kind of like her own sign language. "Whistle" is putting her fingers to her lips and blowing as if she were blowing in a whistle. "Candle" is blowing out a candle. "Binoculars" is hands around her eyes. She uses these mostly when she is telling stories from Shaun the Sheep or Curious George. The dog on Shaun the Sheep blows a whistle. George blows out birthday candles and looks through binoculars when he sits in the lifeguard chair at the beach. However, she has also used the signs outside of the context of story telling.

Poetically Speaking
Other than calling food "num-nums," almost everything else she says is actually English. That doesn't mean you'll understand her. Her pronunciation is pretty good. "K" sounds are more like "T" sounds, "S" blends tend to drop the "S" (snow and star become 'no and 'tar), and R's are a little "W"-ish, but none of that is unusual for toddlers. The problem is that Lucy uses metonymy, a poetic device for when an associated thing is substituted for the thing itself, for example saying "the crown" to mean "the queen." If Lucy wants bubbles in the evening, she wants a bath. She probably wants there to be bubbles in that bath, but she's OK with a bubble-less bath. If she asks for "ice," she wants a drink. She may want hot tea. All beverages are "ice," probably because she learned to ask for Icees. Matt thinks that "tea" means any hot beverage, but she doesn't really like hot chocolate, so if she asks for tea, she probably wants hot tea. She may ask for "ice" and then specify "tea," which still means hot tea.

A Strange Vocabulary
I am often puzzled by which words Lucy chooses to say. Personally, "cookie" would be high on my list of words to learn. She has only just started saying cookie and only when referring to Cookie Monster, not when asking for cookies. She says bowl, stir, more, apple, zip, unzip, bird, bubble, ball, bat, no, stop, chee(se), noodles, pull, pool, shoe, seat, blue, red, sun, moon, star, snow, burp, toot, hello, bye, poop, peepee, knock, diaper, help, pillow, and two as well as about half the letters and quite a few body parts. The child can talk about heavenly bodies but can't request a cookie! Where are her priorities?

Putting It Together
I think the six word sentence about the cat and monkey sleeping in the car is her longest one to date. However, she often puts together phrases and stories. Today she requested more feta by saying, "A me, more chee(se) a bowl" (For me, more cheese in a bowl). When she's through sitting on her Elmo potty seat, she announces, "All done Elmo peepee." After she actually peed in the toilet last week, I flushed the toilet, and she said, "Bye bye, poopoo." She also likes to pretend that her cat has hurt it's ear and needs a doctor (as she has seen in one of her tablet games). She says, "Meow-meow ouch ear. Doc." And she likes to act out and talk about monkeys jumping on the bed who "ouch head."

Other Peculiarities of Communicating with Lucy
We've also learned that you have to ask the right question to get a helpful answer from Lucy. If you ask if she's pooped in her diaper, the answer is always no. If you ask if there is poop in her diaper (who knows how it got there), she may say yes. If you ask if she needs a new diaper, she'll probably run to her room for a diaper change. Or if you ask if she wants to go swimming, she says no. If you ask if she wants to go to the pool, she says yes. We're starting to figure out that if we get an unusual answer the first time we ask a question, we should rephrase it and see if we get a different answer.

Use Your Words
I've tried pushing her to say more. Of course, she understands much more than she says. Everyone's listening/reading vocabulary is larger than their speaking vocabulary. I try to intentionally teach her words. For example, I've tried getting her to say TV. She knows and says both the letter T and the letter V. I even got out her letter magnets and had her "read" TV, but she still won't say TV to mean television. Occasionally, I've tried withholding things to get her to use words. For example, you can have a cookie when you say cookie. It almost never works. She would rather go without than say what I want her to say. So I don't push often or hard because it does no good. I know that she is surrounded by language. She has parents who speak to her and around her and read her books. When she uses one of her not-quite-words to request something, I repeat what she's trying to say in English. If she asks for "ice," I say, "you want a drink." Eventually, she'll start using even more words and hopefully even words we and other people can understand.

Christmas 2015: Gifting Update

I've updated Lucy's Amazon list again. She didn't receive much from her list for her birthday, but I've found several things for her really cheaply on Ebay, so an update is in order.

Blocks

She's pretty good at putting Duplo bricks or bristle blocks together, and we've started making things, such as an ice cream choochoo, together. I'm still providing most of the imagination, but she's learning. I still think that Duplo sets that allow her to play while learning to build are a good idea. The Lego Duplo FirstPlayhouse and the Duplo First Farm have ready-made doors/rooms, which will make house building easier for her. 

Puzzles

She got several puzzles from my parents for her birthday, so she's in pretty good shape. She seems to do better with non-jigsaw puzzles, ones with pieces that aren't notched. We have an old Sesame Street puzzle with the same number of pieces as her jigsaw puzzles, but she can almost do the old puzzle herself. She'll eventually catch on to the jigsaw puzzles, but more like the old wooden puzzles would be nice. There is one puzzle on her wishlist like the old ones, the Deluxe Fire Truck Chunky Puzzle. The old Playskool puzzles are available on Ebay. 

Books

I found a couple of Curious George collections on Ebay for $2-3, so I got them. With those collections we have most of the Curious George stories. The stories we don't have are still on the wish list. We try to keep the collected volumes out of Lucy's reach and read them to her at bedtime, but she likes being able to pick up a George book and "read" it herself. We like that, too. So more individual CuriousGeorge paperbacks would be good. She would be thrilled to have her own copy to Curious George in the Snow. She LOVES that one and is kind of obsessed with snow because of it. She learned to say "snow" so she could request it. Another good option for Curious George books would be Kindle editions. We have Curious George Goes to the Beach on the Kindle, and it kept her happy while we waited at the doctor's office for more than an hour. More Curious George on Kindle could be very helpful. Don't bother with the collected volumes on Kindle. I got the one with Curious George in the Snow, and the pictures aren't on the same page as the text that goes with them. It's a little difficult to read them that way. 

I bought her BooBoo and Sheep in a Jeep on Ebay, too, in a buy 3 get 1 free sale. But she would still enjoy Sandra Boynton, Duck & Goose, Clifford, Gossie & Friends, and Sesame Street books.

Art Supplies

We have markers, crayons, and paints. She doesn't like Crayola Color Wonder. She doesn't really need coloring books. She enjoys her chalk board and dry erase board. She's getting an AquaDoodle from us for Christmas. She could use a full-size MagnaDoodle. She likes play dough, and I prefer homemade play dough because it doesn't stink. She would enjoy the Rollers, Cutters, and More set, which has scissors and some shape-making tubes, and small rolling pins that actually roll like real rolling pins. She has some extra large beads that she likes to string on a big shoelace (it's a Melissa & Doug set). She would probably like more beads. Honestly, the beads could be made by cutting dowel rods and drilling holes in them. The beads are about an inch in diameter.

Imaginative Play Toys

She has a kitchen with table and chairs and plenty of dishes and food. She has plenty of stuffed animals and dolls (in my opinion). She has bottles, diapers, changing table, cradle, and a stroller for her dolls. She also got 2 doctor's kits (which she loves). She probably doesn't need more of any of these things.  

She has a little hammer with nails that act like whack-a-mole, so she would probably enjoy a very basic tool set that lets her hammer and screw. I like that tools would develop her fine motor skills. She really likes playing with tape measures, but Matt doesn't want her to play with his. She could have her own.

She likes puppets and finger puppets. She's been playing with magnets on the refrigerator lately, and her chalkboard is magnetic, so magnets that she can use to tell stories would be good. We have two scarecrow magnets that she calls mama and dada, and I've told her the T-Rex is her, so she likes to play family with the scarecrows and dinosaur. 

She has quite a few cars and trains. She could probably use a couple of vintage Little People vehicles. She has people and a house but nothing to put in the little garage.

Active Toys

Lucy is very active. Active toys like a slide or tricycle are right up her alley. 

Dress-Up Clothes

Dress-up clothes and accessories are always welcome. I got several hats and capes at Dollar Tree before Halloween. She really enjoys dressing herself and her parents.

Music

I got several CDs at Dollar General's 50% off clearance sale. I think we're in pretty good shape now. I think she would like a music source that she can control. She still loves her musical birthday card, which will wear out eventually. She has played with wind-up toy TVs and radios and likes those. The old Fisher Price wind-up record player would be good. I'd prefer the old one that uses a music box rather than the new ones that use computer chips. I think music boxes fire scientific imagination and understanding of sound as vibration better than computer chips do. I've also learned that there are a couple of Sesame Street records for those old players because there was a Sesame Street edition of the record player.

Clothes

Lucy could probably use a few more 24 month long sleeve shirts and pants. We tend to like knit pants in solid colors--black, brown, navy--or the ones that look like jeans. If you find long sleeve pajamas (one- or two-piece) with any of the following characters, she will be happy: Elmo from Sesame Street, Curious George, Spiderman, Shaun the Sheep (perhaps will be available because of the movie last summer), pretty much any superhero.

Matt & Natalie

Matt and I also have Amazon wish lists that we try to keep up-to-date. Mine doesn't have much on it. Matt and I are both happy to receive money as a gift. I'd like to buy a new mattress for our bed, but I don't expect anyone to buy me a mattress for Christmas. Donations toward a mattress, however, would be appreciated.