2 Years in, the Sentences Begin

by Tony Chen

Although Meme has been particularly fun and cute and crazy recently, it's been a weird transition period for me. I had this moment about two weeks ago when I looked at him and it just hit me like a brick. This little alien creature that used to fit on the length of my arm is now a babbling, strutting, jumping 2-year-old boy. Where did the time go? At least I have 3,152 pictures to look back to.

Anyway, I've been cross-training him with bats, tennis rackets, homemade velcro balls, and the like, and he's totally loving it. We were in the family room earlier this month and all of the sudden I heard 2 words from him that will ring in my head for the rest of my life.

"Baba go"

Yes, indeed, this two-word exclamation was Meme's first complete sentence. We had been kicking the soccer ball back and forth and apparently, I had drifted a little too close for his taste, as if I was underestimating the power of that little leg of his. After all, he can launch that ball a good 20 feet these days. Even though he was getting frustrated at me, I just had to give the little guy a big hug. Now the real adventure begins as the words magically string together.

For kicks, I decided to write down every word in Meme's spoken vocabulary (in approximate order of when he picked it up). This is a milestone, right? From here on out, the word combos are limitless. Yes, I know, I'm a sentimentalist dork who likes to keep records of this kind of stuff. Nonetheless, won't it be cool to look back at this list someday? The list:

1. flower (don't ask me why this is his first word)
   
2. hua (flower in Chinese)
3. airplane
   
4. Fa Ge (airplane in Chinese) - though he used to say "ge ge" which is... um... actually the Chinese word for... a key part of the male anatomy
5. ball
6. Elmo
7. fan
8. Mama
9. Baba
10. Juice (though once we thought he was yelling "Jews!" when we were driving by a synagogue service that had just let out)
11. eat
12. nai nai (milk)
13. please
14. spoon
15. fork
16. thank you
    
17. peas
18. apple
19. Noodles
20. more
    
21. Meme
    
22. vacuum
    
23. corn
24. dog
25. roar (lion)
26. baaa (sheep)
27. horse (nae nae)
28. cookie
29. chips
30. up
31. eyes
32. ears
33. hand (as in, "hold my hand, so that I can go to sleep. yeah... I know...we're working on that)
    
34. nose
35. mouth
36. lips
37. knees
38. bathtime
    
39. water
40. fountain
41. book
42. Grover
43. shhh
44. aligator
45. computer
46. outside
47. rock
48. tomato
    
49. shoes
50. cake
51. beans
52. cook
53. bubbles
    
54. farmer
55. egg
56. cheese
57. mac and cheese
58. Ah-yi (Auntie in Chinese)
59. Gu-gu (Auntie from father's side in Chinese)
60. Ah-gong (Grand-dad in Chinese)
61. Ah-Po (grandma)
62. Ah-ma (grandma on my side)
    
63. Tom (comes out as "Bomb")
64. O (for Olivia)
65. a o line (for Caroline)
66. Nathan
    
67. Maggie
68. Vicki
69. Carol
70. Hannah
71. Sasa
72. Yun
73. Mike
74. Jane
75. Jeff (comes out "Ralph")
76. Donald
77. Target
78. talk (we always "talk through" each day before we go to bed)
    
79. ice cream
    
80. no
    
81. Shower
    
82. yes, yeah, ya
    
83. all done
84. okay ("o-te")
85. Mommy
86. Babby
87. Daddy
88. Maba or Bama (i.e. either parent will do, thanks)
    
89. Elephant
90. pig
91. Alison
    
92. paper
93. play-doh
94. chair
95. chopsticks
96. toot (our word for fart)
97. ouchie
    
98. tang-tang (sweets)
99. snack
100. cracker
101. treat
102. off
103. hot
104. on
105. diaper
106. shirt
107. pants
     
108. spicy
109. lights
110. almost
111. work
112. babies
113. home
114. Grover
115. shhhh
116. TV
117. turtle (the animal as well as a Baby Einstein DVD featuring that cute turtle)
118. choo-choo
119. car
120. truck
121. Bert
122. Ernie
123. potato
     

Well, 123 down, 59,877 to go.