Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hebrew "father" or 70s Swedish Pop Group?

The other day Nate was pointing to a shelf in the pantry yelling, "Abba!  Abba!"

Me: Agua?  You have water.
Nate: (points again) Abba!
Me: What do you want Bug?  (lift Nate up to the shelf he's pointing at)
Nate: (points to a veggie pouch) Abba!  Abba!
Me: Apple?  No, that's spinach.  But you can have one.
Nate: Abba!
Me: (open pouch and the calls for Abba stop)

An hour later, Nate's standing in front of a door and begins yelling Abba again.

Me: Abby?  Do you want to watch Abby?  Sesame's on in the other room.
Nate: (ignores me and continues pointing to the door repeating Abba)

Oh well, this must be one of those words only he understands.

The next day I thought to ask daycare if he yells Abba during the day.

Tania: Agua?
Me: No, I know when he's saying Agua.  This is Abba.  He points at things and repeats, "Abba!"
Tania: (thinks) Oh!  Ha.  He's saying Abrir.  Open!

Yes, that makes a lot more sense.

Nate's 18 month well visit is tomorrow and as part of his ASQ/MCHAT paperwork we had to note how many words he's saying other than mama and dada.  I sat down and wrote out the words he says clearly and was surprised to find about 30 that are clear enough for someone other than me or Aaron to understand.  It's amazing to watch his vocabulary grow and ever more amazing to see him comprehend in two languages.  Another example of the incredible ability of an 18-month-old's mind - We were watching Elmo last night and I pointed to Dorothy and asked Nate if he could say "fish."  He immediately said, "peces."

I think my child officially speaks more languages than I do.

3 comments:

  1. I should brush up on my Espanol before visiting you guys. I took French in HS & college, and somehow living in Southern CA only taught me so much....probably not words Nate knows ;-) As Aunt, I suppose 'Ci' is all I really need to know? :-D I also know cuidado, so I think we'll be A-OK.

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  2. Dumb question. I thought abierto meant 'open' (I watched Sesame Street a lot!), what is the difference between abierto and abrir?

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    1. Google tells me abierto is conjugated. http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation/abrir

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