Toddler Translations

I know my last post was quite the cliffhanger, and I am sure that some of you have been anxiously waiting ever since that post to find out the translations for Ben's words. I want to keep things compelling for my readers, you know! I must say that I was impressed because some of you were quite proficient at interpreting "Ben"ese. For those of you who don't understand toddler-speak so well, I will leave you hanging no more -

2-year-old Ben loves to eat meemul (oatmeal), beagles (bagels), and mokey (milky) for breakfast or just about any time of the day. I had oatmeal for breakfast one day a few months back, and Ben wanted to try it. After he got his first spoonful, he was sold & ate my entire bowl. When he's thirsty, Ben often asks for a drink of lauder (water). He also grabs partially emptied lauder bottles so he can dump out the remaining water and relish in the resulting puddle - he is not selective about where his puddles are created - on the carpet, on the kitchen floor, on his clothes, in the car, on the grass - whevever he happens to be. He might even stomp in the puddle while wearing his fop fops (flip flops) to create even more excitement.

Some mornings Ben likes to grab his little 1 lb hand weights to join me as I secacise (exercise). Other times, he abandons his weights in favor of sitting on me while I attempt ab secacises. He is very helpful!

Ben is very supportive of our attempted family pictures (scripture) reading in the evenings. He loves to sit with the family as we try to read pictures together, and sometimes he is very quiet and sits next to his dad quietly, gently paging through a set of scriptures. During such times, even at 2, Ben is the perfect example to his ever-distracted sisters of how one should behave during family scripture time. But, most of the time, he is entertainment and added distraction for his sisters, so scripture reading appears to be more fruitful when done after Ben goes to bed. But - if he hears us say "let's go read scriptures" before he's been taken to bed, there is no option but to have Ben join with the family because otherwise, a heartbroken tantrum will ensue.

Ben has been a devoted fan of his lalano (lawnmower) ever since Uncle Mike & Aunt Karla gave it to him for his 2nd birthday.

When we went to a children's museum in Salt Lake City this summer, Ben found the only lalano in the place, and promptly claimed it as his own. This was not a problem until he abandoned it momentarily and another little child declared ownership of the lalano. Ben found this to be more than he could handle, and I had to take him to another room in the museum until he could calm down. At such traumatic times, a deetee (blankie) along with his fingers inserted into his mouth, can be quite soothing. Luckily, the other child eventually lost interest, and the lalano was Ben's once again.


And finally, Uncle Doug was right, Dabid Cheddachedda is none other than David Archuleta of American Idol fame. I'll give you one guess as to who taught Ben to say "David Archuleta", which continues to be a household phrase, mentioned everyday around here. Madi & Ben have this little daily exchange -

Madi - "Ben, who is yucky?"
Ben - "Dabid Cook yucky."
Madi - "Ben, who's nice?"
Ben - "Dabid Cheddachedda nice."

When Ben wants to annoy Madi, he purposely says "David Cheddachedda yucky," when Madi asks him who's yucky. He already knows how to antagonize his big sis. That a boy Ben!

And just because you're really lucky today, a couple of bonus "Ben"ese words - "Cooloo" means screwdriver OR stroller - you must listen to the context of the word as it is being used to know which word Ben is referencing. And "Poppy Truck" - about a year ago my dad was using one of these little trucks at the cabin while Ben watched attentively. Ben was so enamored with this experience that he has named all Bobcat trucks "Poppy Trucks". I didn't even know Ben had a name for such trucks until one day when we were looking at his truck book and he pointed to a picture of a truck just like this one and called it a Poppy Truck. This was months after we had been at the cabin and watched Poppy on the Bobcat. I was shocked at Ben's memory of that truck.


As entertaining and "cute" as it may be to see language emerge in a young child, it is also incredibly amazing. One day in the not-so-distant future, Ben will say water instead of lauder and flip flops will no longer be fop fops, and he'll be just another human who has conquered his native tongue. I, for one, will be a little sad when the "baby" words leave him, one by one. Did you know that barring a physical or mental handicap or disability, that all humans are 100% successful at learning language? I'm sure you knew that. What miracles we are!