Idanese – English dictionary

While both of Idan’s grandmothers have detected many more words during their visits than we have (in both English and Hebrew), here are the ones we hear consistently:

“No” – luckily, less frequent than it used to be! Accompanied by definite head shaking from side to side. This is a kid who knows what he wants! (But sometimes just saying “no” is half the fun, and he’ll then reach out to accept whatever he just refused…)

“Uo-Oh” Appropriately and frequently used

“Shoes” – we’d think this was a strange addition to his vocabulary if it wasn’t one of our friends’ daughters first words.

“Mih” – music. Said while pointing to the CD player. And not just any music – he has his favorites, of course, which unfortunately by definition now skip all the time because he’s tried putting them in the CD player on his own so many times.

“Doh” – dog! Said with a BIG smile and enthusiastic pointing whenever we pass one on the street, or when Idan sees one out the window, or even when he hears one barking in the distance. More ammunition for Ram’s campaign…

“Mama” – finally, seems pretty consistent. We’ve confused him by saying both “Mom” and “Ima,” but he seems to have settled on “Mama” for now.

“Baba” – also sometimes “Dada” (again probably not helped by our interchangeable use of Aba and Daddy).

“Car” – fairly consistent, although he’ll let a lot of them go by without comment (unlike dogs).

He entertains us with a constant stream of sentences, and words that we haven’t yet managed to attach to a particular meaning based on usage, but which he says very clearly and emphatically (he is doing his best to teach us, but we’re slow learners).

He loves bringing us books to read, especially ones with moving parts (puzzle pieces, pop-ups, and anything else he can destroy – um, we mean, play with). And he loves dancing as much as ever – we just took a great video that we’ll upload soon. He’s also a great climber, and will slide down not only the small slide in our backyard, but also the much bigger one in the playground all on his own.

He also still holds the world record for ability to soak any bib or shirt with drool in no time flat. And is a voracious eater – but luckily very active so, aside from his Buddha belly, it doesn’t seem to stick on him.

That’s the update! (C) 20007 C