It goes without saying that G is continuously discovering knew things. She’s currently in a “monkey see, monkey do” phase that is incredibly entertaining.
But as far as vocabulary goes? We only really need one “word”:
“Dat”
That’s right. Dat. I hear “dat” approximately 73,902 times per day. Now. I’m 99% sure she is saying “that” when she says this. Because it’s said so emphatically and usually is accompanied with a pointed finger. I have started taking her to whatever “dat” is at the moment and letting her touch it – DAY MADE right there.
“Dat” is a complete sentence in a 14 month old’s world. It is a placeholder for many questions, including, but not limited to:
“Can I have that?”
“What is that?”
“Can you see that?”
“I did that?”
Since it most often sounds like a question, I try my darndest to answer it.
“Dat?”
“That’s a light”
“Dat?”
“Yes! You made your music play.”
“DAT!”
“No sweetie, this is momma’s coffee. You need to drink from your own cup please.”
G’s teachers at school laugh and tell me that they can hardly get her through a meal because she is so busy pointing at everything around her. Announcing the presence of every inanimate object with an emphatic “Dat!”
Every once in a while, she’ll point at the dog and say “dat” and I will say “Yes! Dog! Way to go!” Because by golly, that’s close enough to sounding like dog and we’re going to celebrate it.
Not to undersell her verbal skillz, I should mention that she says momma (usually when she’s upset so it’s more like moooooommmmmaaaaaaaa) and dada. And she makes us laugh with her babbling “lectures” complete with exaggerated arm movements (Like I said: monkey see, monkey do. I feel a little bit like I’m being mocked by my toddler when this happens. I TALK WITH MY HANDS, OKAY?)
But for the most part, “dat” is where it’s at.
I feel like I have to write posts like these so I will remember a time when one word was sufficient to express her every need, desire, question, achievement, etc.
Because, bless it, if she’s anything like her momma then we have a real chatterbox on our hands.
And I will probably long for the days of “dat”.
