They say (in a prelude to one of those kasabihans) that as a baby turns a few months and a year older, the sure measure of his or her intellectual and linguistic development are the number of intelligible words that he or she utters (or, in the case of extremely proud parents like Elvie and myself, seems to utter). The measure is ten words.Little Ikai is now a four days shy of three months and a year and if we are to believe the aforementioned in the first paragraph saying then Ikai is clearly developing well as she can say (some with clarity and some with a little help of Mama's and Papa's biased hearing) more than ten words.
Here's a list of words Ikai utters regularly nowadays in between the baby-gibberish she speaks with:
- Mama: the first clear word she spoke as early as she was 3 or 4 months
- Papa: not the second word she spoke but the only word she speaks that makes my heart cry with joy
- Mémé: spoken either softly as a request or said loudly as a demand for milk
- Eat: pronounced with an accent so it hears like "ate", I think she favors the Scottish/Welsh English accent, mate
- Up: what Ikai orders herself when she accidentally stumbles and falls on all fours
- Baba: as in downstairs -- her answer to the question, "San ka pupunta?" (Where are you going?); her word, generally, for anywhere but the bedroom please
- Happy: one of Ikai's more recent words, spoken singly at times or as part of the phrase ...
- Happy Birthday: in Ikai's case, the word "happy" is clear enough but birthday part comes out "beeoudé"
- Bird: her second word, I think, denotes anything that flies or is up on air that can be pointed at -- a maya, a pigeon, a passing airplane, the ceiling fan. I wouldn't be surprised if Superman passes overhead and Ikai gamely points to him and says "burd"
- Good Morning: more often than not comes out as "Goo more-nnn" but still intelligible and acceptable as she says this straight to your face, her little chubby face all-a-smile
- Aw-Aw: what she calls a dog or any four-legged animal with a snout
- Ming: what she calls a cat, yes, only cat. She can differentiate a cat from other animals.
- Até: for non-Filipinos, this is how we call our big sisters whether they're blood relatives or not. Ikai's nanny is her Ate Grace. So, far Ikai has only managed something more akin to "Uh-tee"
- Bad: one of her earlier words; probably got it because we use to chide her "bad" when she does something naughty yet nice and we felt like letting her know it wasn't altogether nice.
- Baby: when she sees a child between 0 months to 10 years old, Ikai refers to it as "bayyy-bee" (again, with the oh-so-English accent)
- Umba: her lullabye, a duo-syllabic sleep song I've composed that gets her comfortable as she preps to sleep. Usually accompanied by a "tapik". When she wants to sleep and wants to be lulled to sleep, she will look at me and say "umba"
- I Love You: yes, Ikai responds to someone who says "I love you" to her with a resounding and distinctly sounding "Aahv vooo"
