A Crash Course in Teaganese

Nod your head if you've ever had a hard time understanding someone else's child. I thought so. Heaven knows I've been there, and it's more-than-uncomfortable. So, if perchance you should meet my daughter wandering, lost in the streets and she tries to tell you something important (like her address or "cookie") I wanted to give you a crash course in Teaganese so you won't feel so helpless and uncomfortable. (For the record, she doesn't know her address, but she's got "cookie" down pat. To be truthful, the chances of her wandering the streets are minimal (crosses fingers, knocks on wood). I more or less just wanted to remember how amazing/sweet/funny it is now that she thinks she is talking.

{ABBA} - Unfortunately, your guess is as good as mine on this one. No rhyme or reason to when or why she says it. Hopefully we'll figure it out soon - we'll keep you posted.
{ADADOO} - see "Abba"

{AT} - Hat. This one came as a surprise, I suspect from a Baby Signing Time video we watched together. We bought some finger puppets at Ikea and one of them happened to be wearing a hat and she picked up on it. It's amazing how quickly she's picking on things she only sees/hears a few times. Hat is usually accompanied by patting herself on the head - the sign for hat. 

{BA} - Ball. Or anything round.
{BOO} - Boots. As in Boots the Monkey from Dora the Explorer.
{BOO, BEE, BO} - Two, Three, Four. Lately she's been running around saying 2 & 3 over and over. Yep, that's "boo bee boo bee" all day long.
{BUH} - Bird. Including and especially Big Bird. She never misses him. And she always accompanies "Buh" with the ASL sign for bird - pinching her forefinger and thumb together close to her mouth like a beak. Yep, it's cute.

{DA DOO} - Thank You. Can't tell you how good it feels to have her saying it almost every time. Although I think she's got it confused with please, because she hands me something she wants me to unwrap and give to her and says "thank you". That, or she just knows I'll do it. That sly dog.
{DADA} - Daddy. Whenever she looks at family pictures, "Dada" seems to be the only one in them. 

{DOHWA?} - Dora Dora Dora The Explorer. And it always seems to be a question. As in, may I watch Dora? She's finally stopped stuttering when she says it. I think the theme song starting out with D-D-D-D-D-Dora messed with her head a little. 

{DUDE} - Food. She learned this one pretty quickly, probably because she signed it first, and still signs it when she says it just to make sure she's clear. Her mama didn't raise no fool when it comes to making sure you're fed.
{DOOKIE} - Cookie Monster. Or any blue Sesame Street character, for that matter.
{DUK} - Milk. That's a tricky one. But to help you, she'll always sign "milk" by squeezing her fist like she's milking a cow. This was one of her first signs. And a rather important one.
{EES} - Please. Again with the manners - she's actually very polite for a 19 month old. It must be the British in her. She signed this before she said it, so she still rubs her chest as she says it. Hard to resist, regardless of what she's asking for.
{ELMO} - Elmo. The red, furry monster. He seems to be everywhere, so we hear this one a lot.

{I!} - Hi! Her first word. Well, her first letter, I suppose.
{MMMUMMY} - Mmm Yummy. Or bacon. I'll accept Yummy Mummy as well.

{MOMMY} - Mummy. Have yet to hear this one at a regular decibel level - it's almost always being yelled. I pay attention to her - I promise!
{NAAN} - Oh man! This one took me a while to pick up on, but when I finally did and I said it back to her she grinned. She still beams when I do it. It's when Swiper (from Dora) gets denied the opportunity to swipe, after Boots & Dora say "Swiper, no swiping!" 3 times. She gives Swiper the stiff arm whenever she sees him on screen, but fear the day is not afar off that she tells me no swiping.

{NAHNA} - Banana. The British Way. It can be done! It's very sweet, and for obvious reasons my parents love it.
{PAPA} - Grandpa/G-Pop We'll review family albums every now and again to keep her up to speed with her relatives and her granddads were the first. It's one of the sweetest sounds she makes.
{SHESHE} - Jesus. Of course, I would rather it sound a little less like a gender bender, but the first time she recognized Jesus in a picture we show her every night, my heart melted. Sometimes she gets confused and calls Him "Bee" while shooting her hands up in the air. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that singing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" every night has had an effect.
{SHOO} - Shoe. Sometimes it's "Ashoo" but we won't nitpick.

{THICO} - can have 3 meanings, depending on the context -be aware of your surroundings.

• 1. Tico the Squirrel...from Dora. I am ashamed. If there's a Spanish speaking squirrel in the vicinity, this is what she'll call it.
• 2. "Where'd it go?" - If her arms are out like a scale and it sounds like a question, she's looking for something. Let's just hope you can figure out what.
• 3. Tickle - Brandon reads Sesame Street alphabet books to her every night and the "T" book talks about tickling. There's a picture of Elmo being tickled that appears in another book and she recognizes it and tickles herself. Exhibit A: (0:36 seconds) the rest is her just reading to herself - keep in mind there are only 3 words on each page.

{WA WA} - Quack. Quack. If there's a duck, rubber duck, picture of a duck within a 5 mile radius, she'll spot it and it's hilarious. Our library is doing a summer reading program, and a rubber duck happens to be one of the prizes, so they have paper ducks everywhere. It's hard to discourage a child from recognizing animals and making the appropriate sounds, even if they're deafening, reverberating off the walls of an otherwise pin-drop-quiet establishment.
{ZEE} - Zoe from Sesame Street. We read A LOT of Sesame Street books.

It's been absolutely awe-inspiring as a first-time mother to watch my baby learn new things and become more aware of the world around her. How gratifying it must be for her to finally be able to communicate even a fraction of her feelings to us - and on the flip side how frustrating to still be so limited in what she can get across to us. My heart glows at the look on her face when I "get it right" and we see that we understand each other. Before I became a parent, I marveled at the way parents understood their children when all I heard was gibberish. I doubted my ability to decipher what my future children would try to communicate to me and had to trust people when they said that being around them so much helps you understand them and help other people understand them as well. Hope that helps! There will be a quiz.