Until recently, much of Ava Scarlett’s language has been baby blurbs of indecipherable nonsense, unless you know her as I do. I often know what she’s trying to say, even though her pronunciation is still far less than perfect. She stopped calling me “mumma” a while ago, in favour of “mimi” which I hated more than I can tell you. I actually wouldn’t answer her for a while, until she called me “mummy” (which sounds like “mah-mee?” all the time) like Oliver does. I’d remind her once, and then pretty much ignore her after that until she remembered. It worked. Not very nice of me, but I’m not a very nice mum. I do so love the sound of her little voice when she says “mah-mee?” even though it sounds like a question.
She seems to understand everything, and can point to something she wants, or to body parts when quizzed. She knows her foods. She knows our neighbours’ names. Hi… Bye-bye. Ta-ta for thank you. Aah-po is apple. Lately, we’ve been working on animal sounds. She knows most of the standard animals, and will say “doh” for dog, or “ka” for cat, “du” for duck. Many days, while walking with her in the stroller, we’ll sing Ava Scarlett Had a Farm, and she shouts out the animals of her choice, in order for her peon (me) to make the appropriate sounds for. I’m upping the game, and asking her to make the noises herself.
“Mis?” I’ll say. (It’s short for Mischief.) “What sound does a cow make?”
“Ee-iy-ee-iy-yooooh.” She sings.
Okay, not quite… but we’re getting there. She’s still little.
G.G.
