[Sophia sculpts a piece of Play-Doh]
Sophia: Papa, you want to eat it?
Evan: Sure. What did you make?
Sophia: Fah gwah.
Evan: Foi gras?!
Sophia: Yes, papa, it’s fah gwah. Now eat it.
Moments after Evan comes inside after a day’s work…
Sophia: Hello, Mr. Papa!!!
Gearing up for a mall excursion … to get out of the house.
Nadya: What do you want to buy?
Sophia: Orange pants!
Sophia: [After dropping a doll (lyalya)] Oh my god!
: Lyalya, you okay?
… While reading a picture book with every day activities…
Sophia: [Sees a picture of a bowl of overturned cereal on the floor] Look, Mama, the bear spilled the kashka
Me: [laughing…] Yes, the bear spilled his kasha
Sophia: Mama, mama, look at all the crumbs
Sophia: [While crunching on cheerios] Mama, want cheerios?
Me: No, thank you. I am still eating my dinner.
Sophia: Mama, build tower.
Mama: Sophia, would you like to go on vacation with Grammie and Pop?
Sophia: Yes…
Mama: Where to?
Sophia: Over there (not pointing anywhere)
Mama [at bedtime, offering hugs and kisses]…
Sophia: Stop it, no more kisses
Grammie and Pop (Evan’s parents) visiting with their dog Clowdie …
Sophia: Clowdie, come on, come here. Read a book, Clowdie.
Mama [at bedtime, reading a book Sophia’s cousin Sam gave her]
Sophia: Sam gave it to you
Mama: No, Sam gave it to you … you should say Sam gave it to me
Sophia: Sam gave it to me
I could regale you with stories of just having to make ice cream because I had leftover barnyard-y, luscious cream and too many peaches, but I won’t. I don’t have pictures of the final product … and either way, it is mean to taunt. Instead, I will share our latest trials and tribulations with Sophia.
Setting: Outdoors with her Papa. Sophia likes to squash ants with her her little fingers. After squashing each one, she flicks/blows them off and declares “See you later, ant!”
Setting: Saturday afternoon snack consisting of guacamole and chips. After sampling and liking, she hogs the bowl and says “Mama, no eat!”. Greedy much?
You will plainly see that, as my sister recently put it, little Sophia elevated her father to a state of a deity — something or rather someone above gender. 🙂
Mama: Sophia, is your cousin Sam (boy) a boy or a girl?
Sophia: Boy
Mama: Sophia, is Grammie (my mother-in-law) a man or a woman?
Sophia: Man
Mama: Sophia, is Baba (my mother) a man or a woman?
Sophia: Man
Mama: Sophia, is Pop (my father-in-law) a man or a woman?
Sophia: Man
Mama: Sophia, is Papa a man or a woman?
Sophia: Papa
My husband was getting his japanese charcoal grill set up to grill
Sophia: Paaaaapppaaaa, what are you doing?
Hubby: I am firing up the grill
… 2 minutes go by …
Sophia: Paaaaapppaaaa, what are you doing?
Hubby: I am firing up the grill
Sophia: Whaaa time i[s] it?
Sophia: Silly papa!
This is really a post in the Little Pearls of Wisdom series where I chronicle little Sophia’s blurbs and what they mean or rather, what she is trying to say. However, this is more than just little kid speak; this is a matter of being multilingual. Here goes.
I admit. I am very guilty. I don’t speak to my child in Russian, save for a few words, even though I myself am fluent. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost — we don’t speak Russian at home. We didn’t BS (before Sophia) and we do not now. I also don’t speak it often even with my parents or sister. It has become easier and easier to communicate in English and is now my preferred way. The second reason is that our nanny is a native Spanish speaker and we have asked her to introduce Spanish to Sophia. We are happy that she is picking up Spanish and are careful to not confuse her too much with yet another language.
That being said, we’re now in the throws of decrypting what she is trying to say. Some words are in English, some are in Spanish and some are in … her own little language. Here’s a snippet of the daily goings.
Sophia: Ohhhhhhh... Pelota
Me: Huh? Say that again, dear.
Sophia: Pelota, Mama.
Nanny: Oh, Spanish for ball.
Me: Pelota... ball. Pelota ... ball. Must remember that Pelota is ball.
Sophia: Oh Elmo, elmo seeeeeepin.
Translation: Oh, Elmo, elmo is sleeping.
Sophia: Tilden
Translation: Children
Sophia: Pop, pop seeeeeepin, Gammie, Gammie ... seeeeepin.
Me: Sophia, do you want to watch Elmo? It's Elmo time!
Sophia: Elmo seeeeepin
While on a walk... we approach a neighbor walking a dog.
Sophia: Oh, hi Dog. Hi, doggie.
...continuing on our walk. We see a mailman
Sophia: Oh hi, Man. Hug man.
Walking out of a room with the nanny.
Sophia: Bamanos
Hubby: [thinking she said Bubbles] Where are the bubbles, Sophia?
Nanny: No, she said vamanos which means let's go!
Me: Sophia, what’s your name?
Sophia: Dzudi (Judi — the name of her grammie)
Me: Sophia, what’s this?
Sophia: Aegggg (egg)
Me: Sophia, do you want to watch Elmo?
Sophia: Elmo time!!!
Sophia to Hubby: Piggy [extending her hand]
Hubby: [grabs her hand and starts] this little piggy went to the market, this little piggy …
Oh no shoe, you fall, you shoe…
T[w]inkle, t[w]inkle litel [s]tar…