developing

do you ever wonder the origin of words?
i'm not talking about from the etymologists view point, i'm talking about from 80-something centimetres, from the prospective of a 19 month old friwi.
our wee man has a series of words that we can understand. take hmmhmm -this we know to mean dog, or chien, depending on who you're talking to. (he's recently shortened this to hmmm) the origin of this word is obvious, as it's the noise a dog makes. likewise mao, bokbok and tweee.
but how does ah-ee mean ouef? when we point out to calix that the correct word for egg is ouef, he then repeats 'ach'.
it took me a while to figure our that 'didit' was voiture, but 'wewo' being velo should have been obvious!
our son, the mini polyglot, has even ventured into translation. his granny insists that cheese is the correct word for momage, that car is the correct word for didit. perhaps calix thinks that maybe it's just granny that uses these words as he always points out things in his language to grandad.
he calls a telephone 'bye', and honey and jam are both 'ma-ees', but there's no mistaking marmite or pain, yaourt or jjjjjjjjjja (chocolate).
he'll happily point out the bain, douche, bottes, couche, and he's ecstatic when you mention going to la plage.

but the greatest joy has been his recent ability to express his gratitude with his own little way of saying merchi.

his little community of friends include a swiwi (swedish kiwi), diwi (german, or deutsch kiwi) a briwi (brazilian kiwi) and i'm not sure how to describe an english-kiwi.
as max points out something to calix 'teeta caca!' he says, calix is happy to repeat it. and little aramaya says 'zu' when he shuts the gate, calix repeats that as well.
our little men, are they the future of united nations peace talks? or a super football team with a language all of their own....

xx
mama b