Tyler has been, as of late, trying to copy the words we say. Luckily, Sarah and I have our swearing under control now. If that weren’t the case, I’ve no doubt that Tyler would already have “damn” in his vocabulary, and likely some of Damn’s big brothers and sisters. Probably even Damn’s parents. The whole Damn family. He’s even surprised us by attempting some three syllable words/phrases like “I love you” and “Las Limas”. Las Limas is Sarah’s most favoritest Mexican restaurant. We actually went there just two days ago. Surprise surprise, Tyler loved it. He dipped chips into salsa, ate salsa right from his fork, and even used his fork to eat rice off my plate. Sarah practically lived at Las Limas during her pregnancy. Craving city. It was the same thing almost every day. I’d ask, “What do you want for dinner?”

“Chips and salsa.”

“We just went there yesterday.”

“Yeah? And?”

So should it really come as any surprise to me that Tyler loved the food there too? But, I digress.

Here is the current Tyler-to-English list:

Mama – Mommy
Dada – Daddy
Pumpy – Pumpkin (he sounds so cute saying this)
Howww – Help
Baba – Paci
Bahp – Up (pick me up)
Dowww – Down
Slyyy – Slide
Sie – Outside
More – More
Rie – Ride (either in the car or on Dada’s back)
Go – Go
Poddy – Potty
Yah – Yes
No – No
Nooo – Nose
Mou – Mouse
Mou (high pitched) – Cat (meow)
Neeee – Horse (neigh)
Deen – Drink
Dis – This
I-luh-loo – I love you (just started with this)
Ball – Ball
BALL – Football
Boo – Book (as in read one to me)
Nigh nigh – Night Night
Daw – Dog
Lila – Delilah (our dog)
Papa – Sarah’s dad
Nana – Sarah’s mom
Grap – My dad
Gram – My mom
Ishi – Aunt Acey
Jiji – Aunt Jiji
Jah-ee – Aunt Jenny
Paysh – Cousin Paige
Wek – Cousin Lexie
Germ – Uncle Jeremy (we call him Germs, for short)
Nah nah – Knock Knock
Pideh – Spider
Nummy – Nummy (he wants to give Lila a treat)

That’s not all. He’s got a handful of other words at his disposal. It amazes me that he not only uses the words but he actually uses them in the proper context. When I talk to Tyler (about something that interests him), I can see that he is genuinely paying attention and trying to absorb what I’m telling him. I also find it amazing that, although he can’t hold a conversation, he understands almost everything Sarah and I say to him. Unless it involves the word “no.” For example, telling Tyler “No, we do not play in Lila’s water” seems to have little effect on his playing in Delilah’s water bowl.

Because of Tyler’s perceptiveness and comprehension, we’ve been relegated to spelling and using other descriptive phrases. Park is P-a-r-k. Outside is “that place beyond our back door.”

Sarah made the mistake of saying “outside” during one of our phone conversations yesterday.

“Sie? Sie. SIE! LAY!” Lay means play, by the way.

“No, honey,” Sarah replied, “we’ll go play outside later.”

“SIEEEEEEEEE!”

Heh. I love that I wasn’t the one to make the mistake this time.