Sunday, December 21, 2008

When Signs Give Way to Words...

I was talking to a friend this evening; she mentioned she was eagerly waiting for LG to start talking. "What?", I wondered. Because he has been talking by the dozen, alright not full-fledged meaningful sentences but related words strung together that definitely make sense - if you are paying attention :). Then it dawned upon me that I haven't been writing about his latest speech milestones here so it's natural for people to be in the dark. Many of my friends who I don't correspond with regularly over e-mail do know what's going on as they are regular readers of this blog and Reflections.

There was a time when I worried a big deal about raising a multilingual child - an entry that gained tremendous popularity. It's been a year and half since that post. Li'l General mixes words in English, Tamil and Hindi with ease now. Most of the common objects are said in English and that's one language he is the most comfortable in for now. Things would have been a little more simpler if I was the only one living with him as before..with in-laws moving in and Hindi thrown in, progress on the language front has been a little slow over the past four months. The most significant period has been last month. True to the saying, "One to walk, two to talk" LG expresses himself or atleast tries his best. To strangers, it is all still goobledygook. But to m, it is an important milestone when he no longer points to his bum with "ooooooo" which means it is time for potty. He now says, "Mamma, potty."

Some of the cute phrases from the past that I would want to remember forever. The replacement term is the one after hyphen that he has begun using these past few weeks.


  1. ooooooo with a sign - Potty

  2. Owwww -hot

  3. Ta - Light

  4. Ta - Fan

  5. Pi - shoes

  6. Pi still the same for chappal

  7. Boiche - Ball

  8. Pappe or Papi - Papa



Some words that he can't still pronounce correctly:

  1. Pe - thengai or coconut

  2. Tchea - TV

  3. Pooch - Spoon

  4. Cooch - School

  5. Pipi - Chappati

  6. Pow - Polu Teddy Bear

  7. Dolchie - Dolphin

  8. Aby - Heli

  9. Kho - open

  10. Chaku - Kachu

  11. Capsicum - Pacsi



He is clearly going through the vocabulary explosion phase, one that I longed for. Happy Talking.

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