Language barrier

I do not speak toddler. For the most part, Abby is patient with my lack of understanding. She helps out by pointing and gesturing to help her dad and me understand what she's trying to tell us. Most of the time we do an okay job of communicating, and so far we haven't run into too much frustration from our little wordsmith.

The trouble with this complicated language she's learning is that many of the words we say sound sound similar, and her toddler tongue and my adult ears are often at odds because of this.

Her first words, "duck" and "quack" remain the most popular in her tiny vocabulary. She finds ducks (or anything with wings, for that matter) in the strangest of places and quacks or says "duck" while pointing to show me what she's found. So this evening, as she wandered around the house quacking up a storm, I just assumed she was looking for a duck, wanted to read a book about a duck, or had found the duckie magnet we misplaced earlier.

I was wrong.

Ever the problem solver, Abby eventually found a way to help her misunderstanding mama. Wandering into the kitchen, prying the pantry doors open, retrieving the ziploc baggie of goldfish I keep on the bottom shelf for her snack and waving the bag emphatically in my direction, Abby suddenly made sense.

"Cwacka!" she informed me. And again and again, "cwaka, cwaka!" until I opened the bag and shared some goldfish crackers with her. Satisfied, she proceeded to stuff her face until the bag of cwakas was empty.

I have a lot to learn.

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Special addendum for the grandparents:

I know you're wondering, so before you ask, here's Abby's current vocabulary, as far as I can recall at the moment.

Words she says (and knows the meaning or proper use of):

• duck
• quack
• kitty (kiki)
• cheese (cheeeez)
• turkey (t-key) (IPA: ˈtʌ.ki)
• cup
• uh oh
• no
• wow
• oh wow
• cool
• balloon (boon)
• mama
• dada
• zee (for her teddy bear, "zeepy" bear)
• light
• door (duh)
• bumblebee (bubble bee)
• tree
• Abby (ah-eee)
• baby
• night-night
  
• cracker (cwaka)
  

Also, she makes a lip smacking noise for "fish" when we ask what a fish says, and frequently hums along with our "bathtime little Abby" song. She's actually got the tune (a two-note melody) down pretty well. And if you point to a grouping of letters, she likes to sing her rendition of the alphabet song, which is actually a repitition of the "e" sound. It's really cute.