GA! And Other Words

Ethan, while I know he understands just about everything ("no" being the exception, it seems), does not use verbal language all that much. He is starting to use words more and more, though, and I have a feeling that within the next two months his language skills will take off. With this thought in mind, I thought I'd take this opportunity to archive his language at this point in his life with a dictionary of sorts.

Ga - Ethan uses "ga" to mean just about anything and everything. Everything he points to is "ga." He uses it has a declarative statement (Me: Where's the kitten? Ethan: Ga.) or as a question, typically combined with a pointing gesture (Ethan: Ga? Me: That's a leaf.).

GA - While not many would hear a distinction, "GA" is quite different from "ga." You see, "GA" indicates Daddy. Will has been GA for some time now. We say Daddy a lot but if I say to Ethan, "GA's home," he will run to the door to wait. Or if I say, "Where's GA?" Ethan will run out to where Will is, point, and scream out, "GA!"

Mama - You guessed it. He does know Mama. But, he doesn't really call me anything yet. If he wakes up in the middle of the night, he does not cry out "Mama!" I'm halfway hoping and halfway dreading that day. As cute and heartwarming as that pathetic cry will be, how will I ever resist it? He uses mama mostly to indicate that something is mine since I will often tell him, "No, that's mama's." For example, he really wanted to use the big shovel to shovel the driveway instead of the small one he has. I kept saying it was mama's and the other day when we went out to shovel he pointed to it and said, "Mama."

Caah - This is probably Ethan's favorite word. It stands for car, and he says it like he's from Jersey. I love it. Whenever a car goes by when we're outside, or he's in a parking lot, or he's in our own car looking out the window, he is constantly saying "Caah!"

Boo - Boo means, simply, "Boo!" In the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin, there's a part where the moose puts a sheet over his head and screams, "Boo!" Every time we get to that page, Ethan yells out "Boo!" even before we get to the word. Ethan also loves to hide in our sliding door closets. When he closes it on himself, I always say, "Where's Ethan?" and he will burst open the doors and say, "Boo!" with a great big smile on his face.

Boo - Ethan's other "Boo" means boot. From a very young age, Ethan has loved footwear. He can play in my closet for hours, taking out shoes and putting them back in. When winter came and I broke out my boots, he learned the word. I ask him to bring me my boots, and he will. He doesn't bring shoes if I ask for boots; he brings the boots. And now he has a pair of his own to show me, too.

Sue - No, he's not a future lawyer. Sue is Ethan's word for shoe. It may have even been his first word, that's how much he likes them.

Sssaaah - And what shoe is complete without a sock? "Ssssaah" is sock in Ethanese. He really draws out that s. I love it.

Shhhhi - Not sure if I spelled this one quite accurately. To be clear, this word sounds an awful lot like shit. And it's Ethan's word for fish. We go to the library every Monday, and there is a fish tank there. Whenever we get to the children's section, he runs toward the tank screaming "Shhhhi!" And it really does sound like he's cussing. It cracks me up. I've gotten a few looks. He seems to have mastered the sh from the end of fish but hasn't quite figured out that the f sound comes first.

Pop-Pop - I'd say "Pop-pop" has the best story behind it. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, were were at Gram and Grandpa Meuer's house. Ethan and his Grandpa were playing with a jack-in-the-box, which Ethan just loves. Grandpa would sing the song and then say "Pop goes the weasel" at the end. We slept over there that night and the next morning, when Ethan saw Grandpa for the first time, he said, "Pop-pop." A new nickname was born that day, I think. And, just the other day, he pointed to a picture of him and said, "Pop-pop." It was so cute. When I showed him a picture later of my family, he pointed to my dad and said "Pop-pop," too. So both grandpa's might be Pop-pop. That could get confusing, but I think it's so cute.

Mmmoooo - Half of the books we read to Ethan have a moon in them, so "Mmmoooo" is Ethan's word for moon. I'm pleased that he seems to understand that moons aren't always round but can look like fingernail clippings sometimes, too. He calls all depictions of moons the same thing.

Go - Here's another word, like the first "boo," that means exactly what it should: Go! Whenever it is raining, we would rush out to the car and I would say, "Ready? Go! Go! Go!" as we ran. Now, whenever I ask him if he's ready for anything, he replies, "Go! Go!"

Teey - I'm pretty sure I've heard Ethan say "Teey" to indicate a tree. The y at the end may be confusing, but that's the way I hear it.

Aaah gaah - For quite some time now, I've been trying to teach Ethan to say "All gone" when he's through with a meal. His communication of choice, though, is grunting and writhing in his high chair, or, like today, flinging mashed sweet potatoes onto the wall. But, when I turn off the hair dryer or vacuum, he tells me, "Aaah gaah." He's still learning.

Moh - Months after I stopped using the sign for more, Ethan put his fingers together in the sign one day and said, "Moh." I thought he hadn't picked it up, but I was wrong. Typically, he just parrots the word when I ask if he wants more. But the other day, he ate a waffle and banana for breakfast, and when he was done, he said, "Moh." He was a hungry boy that day.

Baaah - Another early word, "baaah" = ball. Really, any round object becomes a "baaah" and he likes to run up to either Will or I yelling, "Baaah!!"

Those are all the words I can think of right now. There are probably more, but these are the ones we hear often. It's not the same seeing them on the page as hearing them in his cute little voice. I'll have to try and get some video of him using some words. Or you can come over. :) Or you can do your best to picture him saying some of these words in these recent snapshots:

Here he is checking out our first big snowfall.

I don't think many things are cuter than a little guy in footy pajamas.

Donning his fabulous London Fog snowsuit (Thanks, Lisa!), he looks like a character out of A Christmas Story. He really likes it, though, and can move fairly well in it.

This is the shot I got of him being naughty. He sneaks into the office to play with the computer mouse. When you catch him he laughs and starts pushing the mouse around like a maniac. It's hilarious to watch. He's so proud of himself.

Ethan's really concentrating on his birthday drawing for his GA.

Here's GA himself, last night, eating his birthday dinner of turkey meatloaf and mashed sweet potatoes. Ethan really liked the turkey meatloaf but wasn't so sure about the taters. See how well he's using his fork?