I promised myself I would never use baby talk when I had children. I was under the assumption-- as perhaps others may be-- that speaking to babies as if they were adults resulted in a child rich in expansive vocabulary and overall linguistic prowess.
Well, not only have I spoken to the girls in baby talk since before they were even born, I find myself accidentally telling Joe things like, "Wuv you baby" or "TOM onn!" far too many times than I'd like to admit.
Fortunately for my daughters (not Joe so much), according to this article, Motherese-- aka baby talk, or child-directed speech-- creates a perfect environment for infants to learn the building blocks of language: Turn taking, pitch changes, loudness, vowel formation, imitation of body position (not sounds yet) and facial expressions.
While I briefly studied the phenomenon in language acquisition courses, I thought I would try to transcribe (as much as I could) the language on a normal “work day” for me. Also, the videos illustrate just what lengths we’ll use motherese/ fatherese, silly utterances, tonal changes, etc. to illicit freakin’ adorable responses by our kiddos!
Side note: spelling matches pronunciation, italics are songs I was singing at that moment (not kiddy music. I need some kind of break!), includes some Spanish (in motherese too)
AM
2:26- "Shhhh shhh shhh shhh shh. It's okay, I gotcha."
2:28- "Here ya go baby"
2:35- "Come here boo boo, chore turn"
2:42- "Duuu job boo boo"
4:39- “Shhh shhh shhh shhh shhhhhh”
4:41- “Oh! bless you bee bee”
5:23- “Here’s chu binky boo boo”
5:42- “Gggguhhhhhhhh (guttural, unintelligible sound) shhh shhh shhh shhh shhhhhh”
6:42- “Duuu morning boo boos!”
6:50- “Lesss do diapies!”
6:51- "Ready? Treeeeeeech!"
6:55- Duuuuuu morning, duuu morning, it’s gonna be a special day... duu morning, duuu morning to youuuuu
7:01- “Whoooo’s hunnry?”
7:04- “Awww is yous holding hands?”
7:20- “All done? Chu girls wanna plaaaay?”
7:23- “Okay boo boos say bubye to daaaaddy!”
7:25- “Baaabies, mommy has to eat too! Tan mommy eat? Thank you boo boos”
8:04- “Uh oh, Is you tiiiiired honey? Shhh shhh shhh shhh shhhhhhhh”
9:17- “How'd it go?! how was chur nappy baby?”
9:18- “Ready? Treeeeeeech!"
9:25- “Ru, ooooooooh don't grab mom's glasses!”
9:26- “Ooooh don't grab mom's earring... Oooooooouch”
9:57- “Oooookay ¿qué quieren leeeeeer?”
9:59- When I get offa this mountain you where I'm gonna go...
10- ¿Quieren jugar con los bloquitos primeeeero?
10:01- Up on cripple creek she sends me...
10:02- “Okay boo boos, vamos a empezar con uuuno... Unnnna luna. Quieres tocarlo?”
10:04- “Bueno, ¿listos? Aquí esta dos. Unnnno-- doooos! Dos remolinos. ¿Quieres tocarlo?”
10:05- “Tienes que compartir con su hermana boo boo!”
10:15- “Awww, is you playing hair salon? Ooooop, don't pull sissy's ha... Dammit!”
10:19- I saw her today at the reception, glass of wine in her hand...
10:20- “Your grandma would sing this sing to us when we wanted something we couldn't have ... Uh oh. Vera, is you hunnry? Shhh shhh shhh”
10:24- “There ya go boo boo”
10:24- You just might find, you just might find, you get what you neeeeeed!
10:26- “Ooooh mommy loves this song!”
10:26- Rescuuuue me, should I go down?! If I stay too long in trouble town...
10:30- “Is you done Ru? Okay boo boo.”
10:32- “Is you done now bee bee?”
10:36- “Ohhhh I loooove you! Don't you forget it!”
10:55- “Did you poopy AGAIN?! Hoooney.”
10:58- They're always having a good time down on the bayou looord...
10:59- “Ooooooh te veo mocos! Te veo moquitos!”
11:04- And still those voices are calling from faaaar away...
11:19- “Waas wrong bee bee? You tired? Tan mommy eat first? Pleeeease? No? Okay bee bee.”
11:27- “No boo boo you gotta have chur arms in the swaddle. Shhh shhh shhh shhh shhhhhh”
11:36- “Shhh shhh shhh shhh shhhhh”
11:48- "How did mommy get so lucky?"
PM
12:28- “It's okay, it's okay. Shh shhh shhh shhh shhhhhh”
12:53- “Shhh shhh shhh shhh shhhhh”
1:54- “Hey boo boos how was your nappy?”
1:55- “Ready? Treeeeeeech!"
2:04- if I was a flower growing wild and free all I'd want is to be your sweet honey bee...
2:06- “Okay ready, lesss practice, 1-2-3! Okay 1-2-3. Wooooo and she sticks the landing!”
2:18- “Dimeee tisses!!! Muahhhh muahhhh muahhhh"
2:24- “I'mmmmm Snoopy! I love you Veeera!”
2:24- “I'mmmmm Woodstock! I love you Ruuuuby!”
2:41: “Vera don't poke your sis... Damnit!”
3:04- "Ohhhhh has hecho un poopito?!"
3:25- "Ready?! Tisses! Div sissy tisses. Awwww"
3:49- "Ouuuuu don't pull mommy's hair"
3:50- "Ouuuuuch"
4:06- "Vee Vee girl! Dooo job!"
5- “Shh shhh shhh shhh shhhh”
5:06- Stars shining bright above you, night breezes seem to whisper I love... Hmmm hmm hmmm hmmm
5:53- “How was your nappy babies?”
5:54- “Ready? Treeeeeeech!"
5:58- “I love you SOOO much, do you know that?! Squishy cheekys squishy cheekys!”
6:02- “Whoooo's hunnry?!”
6:11- “Is you done baby?”
6:12- “Awww you love your sis? Careful!!!”
6:22- “Ru quit pulling mommy's ha... Ouch!”
6:25- “Huuuu look who’s hooooome, say hi daaaaaddy!!!”
)
It is really cool to see all the little things you say all day. It's funny a lot of them I could hear you saying as I was reading. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, it is good to know that it helps them build language skills because I was a major baby talker. When Carson was little Dan would catch me making funny little noises even when Carson was not around. I guess I was just so in the habit of doing it.
Now that he is 3 though I do try to watch how I talk since he is such a mimic. I found that when I wanted to teach him to say "please" and "thank you" I just started saying it to him for everything he did and then he started to. I thing I struggle with is not talking in the 3rd person anymore. It is helpful for them when they are still learning how to label people but at this point he knows I am Mommy. I don't want him to sound like Elmo and always talk in the 3rd person.
Hahaa I can just imagine him sounding like Elmo. According to the article (and other more scholarly ones) there is definitely a threshold of when the baby-talk should stop. Which is a really good thing; I don't want to end up getting TOO used to speaking like a little one ;)
DeleteIt's so delightful seeing what makes the girls laugh! So precious!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it adorable? ;)
DeleteThis is great and I admire your dedication to typing this all out. I love that a Grateful Dead song made the rotation! I make up stuff too, all day long, and sing, and rhyme, and riff, and just keep the language going. I sing songs that rhyme with Skyler's name or whatever else is happening... This is what we moms do!! Loving our babies... Ruby P
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how we become songwriters all the sudden?! Haha. Hope Ms. Sky is feeling better! I'm sure you singing and dancing with her does a world of good :)
DeleteI love this… and I sent a text to Mike two days ago that said "I wuv you"…. oh jeez (bridget)
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious, Bridget. See? It's tough changing registers! Haha
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