"Baby Talk"

Once you become a mother or (nanny) you instantly learn to understand and speak a new language. Baby talk.

I realized this the other day [relatively speaking], I was Skype-ing w.my Bestie whilst getting E dressed & talking to her. 

I said "leggie-loos" and was quickly repeated by my little. Hayls heard this phrase... and said "what the heck is a leggie-loo?" 

Me: "Its what I call E's pants, shorts, etc... her bottoms basically"

It was at that moment that I began to tell Hayls, who is E's Godmother, all the silly names I have for things. She not only thought I was a kook, but she was laughing b/c some of them are absolutely ridiculous. Ridic I tell you.

Being a young, single, SAHM [stay-at-home-mom] & full time student, who gets very little adult time, I found myself having full-on convos with my, at the time, infant. 

I was coming up with all sorts of crazy, funny kid words, to make her smile then giggle, that with time just stuck. Esp. now that E talks, like a pro, I love hearing her repat my silly made-up words/phrases. 

I have found giving everything its "own name" makes things more fun & interesting, plus it makes E giggle & her giggle makes my heart swell to triple its size. 

I know from some of my teaching classes & talking to my pre-K & kgarden teacher friends that it can be is a hassle when every child has a different name for things as they have to make sure every one of their 25-30, 3-5yr olds use the same name for things, for teaching purposes.

But at this point I have been using these words for almost 2 yrs now, I am not changing my ways. E knows that "leggie-loos" are also called pants or shorts and she calls skirts dresses but it close enough. 

I am not the only one who comes up with some crazy words for things. E is so creative with her names for things, but I think that more has to do with her being a toddler and not being able to pronounce properly or know completely what something is. I as parents will correct her but, you can only correct so many times before they get self conscious & their talking becomes limited. I correct her and try to lead her in the correct [speech] direction but, I do not over correct her. So between us two crazies we have an insane little vocabulary. I love that we have our own special language. 

It is something that every parent does. My mom did it, she used & is using again now, w.E some of the same words & phrases that HER MOM used. Now, I have come up w.some originals but I do use some of the ones passed down to me by my mom (from hers).

I don't think this is a child only thing. For example my friends who don't have [human] children yet, but have furbabies- they talk this way to them, b/c their pets are their babies.  I think it is an ornate thing that women are born with. Hell I do it with my parents not so much a puppy anymore 1yrold golden retriever 'puppy' Dallas. 

It's not something that I planed on doing you know being a nut case, it just sort of happened and something that become so everyday natural. I don't just do it to my kiddo either. I do it to every child under the age of 8 poor kids.  

Oh stop judging! YOU DO IT TO EVERY LITTLE kid you see too!! 

Don't even say it's a woman thing b/c M does it to E on occasion... and he is in no way the exception. 

**Let me hear it... Do you "baby talk"? To whom do you do it? You kids? Furbabies? Or am I a loonietoon?

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Keep up in between posts, I Tweet , A lot.

xo

-Kandid Kelli