Littlest Buddy, who is approaching two years old, is doing great at learning to talk. He can string together phrases of two or three words and is constantly trying to repeat what we say. It’s always funny to hear what he comes up with when he attempts to pronounce words, especially difficult ones.
Two of his favorite words are “boodada” (blueberry) and “strawdeeda” (strawberry), and he has recently started saying “happy birt-day.” Instead of milk, he says “mooka.”. That one has been a mainstay for about four months at this point, even though I think he could say it correctly if he wanted to.
When I tell him, “say milk,” he responds with “mooka,” and if I prompt him again, he gives me a goofy smile and shouts, “MOO-KA!” with even more enunciation. I always have to chuckle because I can tell he’s trying to be funny. He seems to enjoy making people laugh, just like his daddy. The picture at the top of this post illustrates this perfectly, as it shows Littlest Buddy with a pair of Little Buddy’s stretchy pajama pants on his head. Wearing big brother’s pants like a hat is something that he came up with on his own, and he just loves that it makes us laugh. We, of course, supervise to make sure that he doesn’t pull them over his face or wrap them around his neck.
What are some funny pronunciations of words that you have heard from the young children in your life, or funny things they have done to make others laugh?
My kid calls her socks “fockies”. LOL
So sweet Ellie, I love this stage of a child’s life. It is so full of wonderment, accomplishments, curiosity, energy, love, and excitement. Enjoy every minute of it with him!
I said “kangie” for water when I was very little. Have no idea why, it has no relation to words for water in any language!
Our one child called broccoli “trees” for years, that landed up sticking for all of us. Another called hamburgers “ hangieburgers” which also stuck for the whole family.
I think every family develops fun words that carry on. I think mooka should be one of those!
Nearing two seems like late to me to be only saying 2 or 3 words. I remember mine sitting in a chair at 17 months reciting the alphabet from a book and telling what each thing was with each letter. I have a picture from that day. I also remember birthday #1 with a shape puzzle as a gift, and being able to say “triangle,” “rectangle” and “parallelogram.” Definitely had full cohesive sentences of 6 or 7 words by the second birthday. I thought that was normal? It seemed so at the time.
Sounds like your child was very advanced. At 21 months, the average child can put together 1-2 word phrases/sentences.
That is normal. Ellie’s child must be just a little behind. My daughter said her first word at eight months, and she was talking in full sentences by the time she was one.
Littlest Buddy is not behind. As a Speech and Language Pathologist I can confirm that by 2 years, a child is only expected to put together 2-3 word phrases. Anything above that is a bonus.
Ellie said he speaks 2 or 3 word sentences/phrases. Not 2 or 3 words. He’s right on target for his age!!
If you can’t say something nice…let’s lift up moms!
Diana, everyone compares kid milestones. It’s nothing personal.
We were going to meet our grandparents at the Poconos. I called it the Pinocchios. I was maybe 3? I was obviously a child who watched The Wonderful World of Disney but didn’t read maps of resort areas.
Haha!
Cute!!! With my kids it was “Effieant” for elephant, “aminals” for animals, “beetatoes” for potatoes. I love the words and phrases little kids use!
Love it!!
My niece would call skunks a Kunk. My 3 year old doesn’t really mispronounce anything but just has cute names for things. He calls his pj’s jam jams, bed covers are covies, and eggs are eggies lol. Those names will probably stick in our household at least until he outgrows them.
Haha! Without the s sound, “Kunk” doesn’t make you think of the word “stinky,” which is a plus.
It’s so sad when they learn the “right way”. My littlest always did the thumbs up with the finger next to the thumb. The day he used his thumbs was a very sad day indeed…
Also, regarding the comment about saying 2-3 words. All children are different!!!
Aww that’s cute!
I was slow to start talking, but I haven’t shut up since! Every child is unique!
I think it’s easy for folks who don’t have babies and toddlers right now to forget exactly when children reach certain milestones.
My daughter would call her soother a “tooey”, and pudding “pudum”
When we were little, and lived in Italy, my dad would walk down to the local donut coffee/doughnut shop. He always asked my mom if she wanted anything in particular. Then, my brother started asking for “ticulars”. It took a family walk by the shop to figure out he wanted a donut 🤣❤️.
Am I the only that does not find this cute? You should very politely tell your children the correct pronunciation. That is what my parents did.
Cute or not, I’d mention it to the doctor, because sometimes mispronouncing words is an indication of not being able to hear clearly. My friend’s daughter had trouble speaking until they figured out her ears needed drainage tubes. She was hearing everything muffled and of course what she was trying to say came out garbled because of that.
My son called his daddy “bam bam” at that age, because my husband did a lot of woodworking that year and my son loved watching him working with hammer, saw and the like.
I have a recording done by one of the daughters which goes like:
– “Say mama” – “mahmah” -“Say Jenny” (older daughter) -“Jenny” -“Say Lucy” (younger daughter) -“Woo-cy” -“Say daddy” -“bam bam!” 🙂
That’s hilarious! Such a cute memory.