We counted the other day while Abuelita Kit ("Balita") was here, and Peanut now has about 80 words or so in her vocabulary (about 10 of those in English). She understands more than she says, but she says A LOT...ALL the TIME. Often she will have a phrase that sounds something like:
alsdf a;slekfr asl;dfkj oweij fa Papi. OR asdfl;kl ealkm ipudibty wer Vaca.
One is left to imagine the context in which her father and a cow might be related, but sometimes context clues help. The other really helpful thing though is that she has a few verbs under her belt. The thing about verbs is that they usually crop up on their own. It is pretty easy to teach nouns - that is a light, that is a motorcycle, that is coffee. Verbs are more organic. They are also much more exciting, so they must be written with exclamation points because they are definitely said with them.
¡Vamos! Let's go!
This one came pretty fast. I mean, we said it all the time, so I guess it makes sense. The kicker on this one is that when Peanut says it she does not say "vamos" but rather "vamoh". She eats the final "s"...like a good Costeña Colombian. Incidentally, this also was part of her first sentence when she looked at me and said "Vamos...parque".
¡Voy! I go!...but in this case it is really, Coming!
When someone knocks on your door and you want to let them know that you are on your way, you yell "voy". One night, as I was getting Peanut ready for bed, our neighbor knocked on the door. My head rushed through my various options but landed on - keep with the routine, don't answer the door, you can check and see what she wanted once Peanut is asleep. Toothbrush locked and loaded, begin brushing, and another knock on the door. I stay with the plan, but the Nutter went rogue. As soon as the toothbrush came out of her mouth she yells out, "¡Voy!". What's a mom to do? We went.
¡Ven! Come here!
Peanut hears this all the time too, and she occasionally listens. We first realized she was using the word though when we heard something like "¡Ven!" come grunting down the hallway. When I leaned over to get a better view I saw Peanut tugging on our neighbor's big Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal which was stuck between the wall and a doll carriage. It was an epic struggle, but by God, Winnie did ven.
¡Baila! Dance!
I don't know how this one got started, but I must say that the force is strong with this one. Interestingly, Peanut does not say "bailo", or I dance. She says "baila" - he/she dances or (and much more likely) DANCE! Besides the conjugation as a command, it is occasionally accompanied by finger pointing and strong glares. And since I don't think I have ever heard her say it only once (¡Baila! ¡Baila!), you pretty much get the feeling that you better start shaking something, and fast.
¡Bañar! To bathe!
This one started out with sign language, but now the word has taken over. The word usually comes out as either baño (I bathe, bathroom, bath) or baña (she bathes) - it is hard to tell. It also gets used when someone else is in the bathroom, doing whatever someone else might be doing. This is perhaps her most multi-purpose word.
¡Cayó! It fell!
One time a woman at church told her to be careful, she might fall. One time. From then on she has announced the possibility of falls, the recent falling of something else, and the result of her throwing something on the ground (which I do not categorize as "falling", but that is evidently semantics to my daughter).
¡Aleluia! Ummm...Aleluya!
I swear I am not sure where it came from, but it is pretty freaking hilarious. It often comes out in songs, so keep an ear out. Soon we will give you a video taste of Peanut's verbal stylings. Aleluya.
