A couple of weeks I did a little quiz on the words and phrases Matthew and Benjamin use and have used in the past.  So, here are the stories behind the words.

Bading Doop: Matthew continues to struggle with more complex sound combinations that include “s” and “th”.  This leads to “bathing suit” becoming “bading doop” and just about the cutest thing I have ever heard.  During the past summer, it became sort of a game to bait Matthew into saying “bading doop”, with even Ben getting in on it.  Of course, “Super Stars” (his class in school) becomes “Dooper Dars” among others.  I think I’ll miss it when he figures things out.

One-Yun: We have no idea where this came from, but for some reason, Benjamin really struggled with this word.  His first words came pretty quickly and he mastered a lot of words pretty easily.  Especially animals.  However, “lion” was not one of them.  Lion evolved over time, but for a long time, it was “one-yun”.

Nana: This was a bit of a trick question…”Nana” became Matthews word for everything when he was about 18 months old, and especially banana and blanket.  I think the reason is that, because he was delayed in talking, when he one day blurted out “nana” and pointed at a banana, we got super excited.  So, I think he began to use it for everything to get the response.  Eventually he started using the proper words, but for some reason, his blanket is still his nana.

Boo-Boos: When Benjamin was about a year old, he dropped something on his toes and I asked him if he got a boo-boo on his toes.  Well, he thought “boo-boos” were the words for toes and for a long time referred to his toes as his boo-boos.

My Doon: Not much explanation here, except it was another cute Matthew phrase.  He used this to express when it was his turn.  For some reason, it also reminds of another phrase he uses all the time, “tuse me”.  He’ll use that in place of “excuse me” to get our attention.

Ka-Venus: Again, Benjamin has a great vocabulary and is usually very clear on his words.  However, to this day, he refers to his venus fly trap as his “ka-venus fly trap”.  Even when we pronounce it slowly for him, he keeps putting the “ka” in front of it.  One day, in the car, he say, “Papa, guess what I’m thinking about…I’ll give you a hint, it starts with “ka, ka, ka…”  (That reminds me, I haven’t seen that since we moved…I hope he doesn’t realize it’s gone before we find it.)