Don't.

Don't.



This is Audrey's newest word. She just learned it. And she loves it so much that she won't stop saying it. To everyone. Well, mostly to me and Adam. She gets shy around strangers so she can't say it to them because she's too busy sucking her thumb. But, I'm sure that once she felt comfortable enough to take her thumb out, she'd say it to strangers too. Any time we are doing something she doesn't want to do she gets a stern look in her eye and says "Don't." And she's always sure to say it with her little index finger pointed at you. It increases the overall authoritative tone.



This morning (after she piled every pillow she could find on the bed and climbed her down-y mountain) she managed to tell me "Don't" around her thumb. But as you can see she didn't forget to include that authoritative index finger. Not that it stopped me from taking the picture.

Don't... just the latest word she's learned. She is learning words at an astonishing rate. She says a lot of words these days and a few phrases too. And while she does get some sounds mixed up and there are a number of different words that sound identical, making her communication confusing at times, it's getting clearer. Adam and I decided we wanted to see if we could name all of the words she says the most - just for fun.

These words are all pretty clear:
Yay!
No - that's her second favorite word - just lost the top spot to Don't!
whoa
hi
bye
Dad or Daddy
Marc
Elmo
castle
hand
truck
bird
man
baby
back
stairs
nice
house
bike
bath
bubble
lunch
two
book
eyes
ears
nose
mouth
cheek
teeth
ball
ouch
bug
walk
off
on
peek
heart
doll
dress
brush
bear
balloon
go
pee
poo
bed
ham
cheese
apple
purse
snack
moon
socks
shoes

These words are really close to the word she's trying to say (I've put what it sounds like after the word she's trying to say):
milk = me-oke
hello = weh-wo
more = mo
please = pease
sit = "it", while patting the spot next to her.
jump = sounds more like "chump"
drink = dink
dirty = duh-ty
diaper = puh-puh
car = tar
cat = tat
star = scar
again = nen
bink = mink
pants = mants
green = neen
light = white
fluoride = wide
trash = tash
orange = ose
gum = mum
m & m's = yummy-yum
cookie = key-key
necklace = ness
hug = huck
turtle = curcle
outside = outs
stroller = stoll
wallet = wa-wet
piano = yano
slide = ice
eyes = she either means eyes or glasses
Jesus = Jejush
Lucas or Luke = Use or Uke
Talea = Thai
Meg = Mick or Meck
Grandpa = Bumpa
Grandma Marie = Mumma
Dawnette = Dot or Net
Rachel = Juju
Mary Poppins = Mamas
Beyonce = uh-oh-oh, or Onsay
Little Mermaid = Mermy but lately she's gotten the hang of the "maid" part, but it sounds more like Mermate.
Ariel = Ay-we-o
Cinderella = Rella
TinkerBell = Bell
Snow White = White
Mulan = Nahn
Pinnochio = yo-ee-yo

These words sound really similar, so we have to pay attention to context in order to know which one she wants:
Mom = Mom, Mama, Mommy
Grandma Vernae = Mammy, Mimi, and sometimes it sounds like Mommy.
juice and shoes
grapes and chips

Then there are words that she says that don't sound like the word she's trying to say, like instead of phone she says nose.

Sometimes she takes the last sound of the word and puts it at the beginning (which is what I think may be happening with phone):
dance = nance
Dan = Nan
Jenn = Nenn, but she also sometimes says the word backwards, so Jenn is sometimes Nej... not sure what that means.

And then just for fun, she says the word correctly but confuses the concept, like up sometimes means up but sometimes it means she wants down - and vice versa.

And her favorite phrase?

Buy it! (And she usually has the same stern look in her eye as when she says "Don't!")