Learning words

The acquisition of language is a fascinating thing to me. As babies grow into toddlerhood, the development of language is like islands of meaning gradually appearing out of the fog of babble. For Boo, it has happened in jumps: she suddenly appears to acquire new sentences, rather than simply grasping individual words. Yesterday she sat on the floor and announced "I sit down" for the first time. It was very cute.

She has a mild tongue tie, so there is a soft, lispy quality to her speech that makes it quite cute. We're torn over whether to move to medical intervention, as she has no visible difficulty in swallowing, talking or movement. The problem first appeared when I struggled to feed her at birth: her tongue tie made latching very difficult, and coupled with her independent nature we only lasted 4 and a half months (translation: she got too impatient and preferred the bottle). She can poke her tongue out beyond her lips, so there shouldn't be a major issue. The worst that can happen, it seems, is that she'll be teased by schoolmates because she can't touch her nose with her tongue.

Here's a mini glossary of some of her favourite terms:

• Iyike cuggle = I would like a cuddle
• Wibbles! = The Wiggles
• Daddy hoss = Daddy is giving me a horsy ride
• Iyike dissh, Iyike dissh = singing her favourite song "I like noise, I like quiet"
• I sit down = I have sat down
• Iyike daps, pweeshe Mum = I like stamps please Mum
• Book weed = Read a book
• Payshool = play school
• Dohwee! = Dolly or Dora the Explorer
• Pay peese Mum = please play with my toys with me
• Jimmy hut mee = Jimmy hurt me, please inflict vengeance.
• Choc = clock (watch)
• Chocok = chocolate
• Poo = "Winnie the Pooh" or "please change my nappy now"