Baby-talk and mom-brag

The second most wonderful thing about having a baby is to see her learn a language. The first is to blow bubbles on her tummy and see her giggle helplessly :D.

Nila's first syllables were 'pa' and 'ba', when she was around four months old. She would look at me and say 'ba'. After four months, there were some occasional 'Amba's. She would say 'akka' , 'athai', 'chithi', 'ayappa' - any word without 'ma' in it. It was an impatient wait for me to hear her say 'Amma' properly - she did that only when she was nearing her first birthday.

She is now a year-and-a-half old and trying to make sentences. Every new sentence combination that she makes is a surprise to me. How did her brain come up with that? When did she hear us say that? She loves talking and expressing herself. Here are a few examples.

1. She creates situations so that she can use the words she knows :D.

Nila takes a toy elephant. She looks at me and says, "Idhu enna ?" (What is this?), hinting that I should be asking her that question. I comply and ask, 'Idhu enna ?". She instantly replies, "Kutti yaana" (Baby elephant). She puts it under the table, looks at me and prompts, "Enge pochu ?" (Where did it go?). I comply again and repeat it. She bends to point at the toy and say, "Adeela irukku" (It's under the table). She would take it back and say, 'Indha irukku' (Here it is).
The above conversation would go on a loop (literally, again and again!) until she gets distracted by something else.

2. When she tries words for the first time - words that she learns by incidentally listening to us talk in the house.

Praveen is pretending not to notice her when she is jumping dangerously on pillows. She does that just to grab attention and see him react worriedly.
"Appa, pesu" (Dad, talk)
"Appa, vilayadu" (Dad, play)
She was using these verbs for the first time and we were so delighted.

3. Her train of thought. As a mom, I'm always trying to get into her head and guess what she is thinking.

She has the habit of asking "Amma enga?" (Where is mom?) whenever she is upset, even when I'm holding her. I guess it is because she misses me when I'm gone for work and associates that sentence with that feeling every time. She also asks, "Appa/ayyamma/ayyappa/maammai enga?" (Where is dad/grandma/ grandpa?), depending on who she was with, minutes ago, in the next room. She would know that the person is in the next room and still ask the question, on a loop, until she sees the person she is asking for.

This is our conversation yesterday. I was getting tired of her 'enga' questions and tried something different. Seldom do our conversations get so long and meaningful like this one.

Nila : "Ayyappa enga?" (Where is grandpa?)
Me : "Theriyadhu" ( I don't know).
Nila : "Ayyamma enga?" (Where is grandma?)
Me : "Neeya poi thedu" (You go and search for them by yourself).

At this point, I was waiting to see her reaction. I know that she understands the words 'thedu' (search) and 'neeya' (by yourself). I was using these in a new context.

Nila looks at me and says falteringly, "Amma thedu" (Amma, you search).

I laugh hard and repeat, "Neeya thedu. Amma thedamatten" (You search by yourself. Mom won't search).

All this is made even more hilarious by the fact that she knows that her grandparents are in a room a few feet away.

Nila goes halfway towards the room, turns back to me and says, "Paakka mudiyala" (I can't see them).

:D :D Really? Did she just say that?

I say, "Innum thedu" (Search more).

She takes a few more steps towards the room. A step more and she would be in view of her grandparents.  But the girl stops there, turns towards me and says, "Amma, kaanom" (Mom, they are missing).

I had to run, scoop her up in delight and share the 'conversation milestone' with everyone in the house.

May be you are now rolling your eyes and saying to yourself, "Moms!". I can slightly understand why my mom loves bragging about me and my sister (to our embarrassment) to cornered relatives.