everybody poos

"everybody poos" is the title of a book by a japanese author. it's a nice one to teach the bean that all animals and people poo, and that people poo in special places.

a couple of weeks ago she took this lesson really to heart and would inform anyone who would listen that "everybody wees" as well as "everybody poos".

this morning, when i strapped her into the car seat, i told her not to wee there (she was only wearing a swim nappy - offers no protection to my car at all), and she gave me a 'of course i know that' look and said immediately, "wee wee in potty!" - i was both relieved and proud.

and more, sort of, on this subject...

when her nai nai and ye ye were still visiting us (they've sadly returned to the uk), the bean would go to their room in the mornings and greet them.

one particular morning, her ye ye had got of the shower and was alone in the bedroom when he heard a little voice pipe up, "ye ye got bottom!"

he turned around to see the bean beaming at him, to which he could only reply, "yes, everybody has a bottom."

years of therapy to come?

one day, some weeks and weeks ago, after the bean's 'uncle whim' had buckled her into the car seat he took the liberty - unwisely it turns out - to bite a bit of the pink jelly snake she had in her hand. however, he did this without asking her first, and because he did it so quickly/abruptly, i guess the bean was taken aback. in fact, her look of petrified horror was a classic - the rest of us in the car, her nai nai, ye ye and i, were worried that she would burst into tears. in fact, i think she was pretty close to it.

anyway, since this incident, whenever a pink jelly snake is offered to the bean, she would say, without fail, "uncle whim. bit head off hnake." it's a matter of fact statement, rather like reciting a mantra.

sometimes, she would preface this statement by saying, "naughty boy". prompting us to ask, "who's naughty?" and to which she would then trot out the homily, "uncle whim. (pause) bit head off hnake."

"whaadat?"

the bean's definitely speaking better and using more and more words and sentences so that we can have a nice long conversation with her sometimes. however, her enunciation is still far from perfect.

e.g. she can't pronounce the "s" sound if the "s" is paired with a consonant. to wit: "hark" (shark), "hip" (ship), "hnake" (snake), "himming" (swimming), etc.

the odd thing is she can say "lots" properly, i.e. if a word ends with the "s" sound: "else", "house"...and usually if the "s" is paired with a vowel: "sea", "sand"...etc.

the other one she can't get right is the phrase "what is that?" or "what's that?", which from her cherubic lips becomes "wha dat?" - she sounds like she is about to go into a rap song or something everytime she says it. and she uses this phrase A LOT. she will point to a picture or object and ask "what dat?", sometimes not even waiting for an answer, and most times, knowing the answer herself. usually, i will try to turn the tables and ask her, "what do YOU think it is?"

"Cheeeers!"

cheeeers
not sure if the bean is picking up alcoholic behaviour from her ye ye and nai nai but she does tend to want to raise her glass at nearly every meal. she would raise her glass of oj/apple juice/honey water/choc milk (you delete) to her ye ye and/or nai nai and it doesn't matter if the other person only has a cup of tea. it's still, "cheeeers, nai nai!" and one *must* clink cups/glasses to complete the ritual.

count to the beat
the other evening the bean took out her xylophone and banged away on it. then she started counting aloud, "one! two!..." etc till she got to ten. she couldn't say eleven properly except with prompting then she continued counting. when she got to fifteen though, there was a very slight pause before she said triumphantly, "nineteen!" and then stopped.
unfortunately, she couldn't quite synchronise the xylophone banging to the counts.