Annabel is going through one of those developmental bursts that is awesome and frightening. She will bring a book over to me, sit in my lap, and say, “Book!” Her word comprehension expands every day. And, to go along with that, she repeats any word she understands…with sometimes mixed results.
Doggie = any animal, regardless if it is a dog
Bah = bye
Shit = sit (usually said while pointing at a barking Rigby)
Lo! = hello
Mike and I decided to tell Annie “Stop” instead of “No” when she’s getting into trouble, but somehow she picked up both words. So now, if we tell her to stop doing something, she’ll shake her head and go, “no no no.” And, if we’re doing something she doesn’t like (pulling her off a piece of furniture she’s scaled, lifting her out of the sand at the park), she’ll scream “stoooooooooop!!!!”
That always goes over well in public.
There are a few words that get a total rise out of her: outside, bath, night-night, cookie, up, and stroller. If she hears one of those words, she reacts. Usually with excitement, but sometimes with a stream of NONONONONONONONOs. So we’ve started spelling out those words to spare our eardrums.
The other day Mike, Annie, and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some essentials. Mike and I separated and conquered the store in about seven minutes, also known as “Annabel’s Tolerance Level For Being Strapped Into A Shopping Cart.”
Waiting in line at check out, I looked over our items and then said to Mike, “You didn’t get Annie’s things.”
Mike: What things?
Heather: You know. Her C-O-O-K-I-S. The ones we give her after she eats all her dinner.
Mike: I’m sorry. Her what? Her “cook is?” What is cook is?
Heather: Her cookies! What, can’t you spell?
Annie: Cookie?
Mike: What, can’t you spell? You didn’t spell that right.
Heather: What? Yes I did.
Annie: Cookie!
Mike: No, you spelled “cook is.” C-O-O-K-I-S. I’d use it in a sentence, or tell you its point of origin, except it’s not a word.
Heather: I am certain I spelled it right.
Mike (to the checker): Did she spell it right?
Grocery Checker: No. She spelled “cook is.”
Annie: COOKIE!!!!
Heather: WHATEVER! I find it hard to believe you BOTH didn’t know what I was trying to spell!
Annie: COOKIE COOKIE COOKIEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Mike: Look, your inability to spell has turned our daughter into “that child” at the grocery store. “Y-A-Y!”
Heather: Fine. I will just meet you outside! You guys enjoy your awesome spelling abilities!
Annie: OUTSIIIIIIDE!
Take me outsiiiiiiide for a cooooooookie!
Sigh. I guess if Annie is listening to everything I say, I need to brush up on my spelling.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who has been watching our video – we’re currently in the top 6! I know YouTube is slow to update view counts, but they do eventually catch up and every view counts! In fact, why not watch it again?
Katie says:
I need a cookie now.
B in Oz says:
hmmm cookie.
Jenn says:
You two make me laugh & always make my unbearable painful mornings bearable!!! Thank you!!! Off to vote again & again!!!
Audra says:
FYI, some words, when you spell them, sound almost exactly like the actual word. When my oldest daughter was a toddler she loved jam. She made a mess with it and on some occasions when we were about to leave to go somewhere I just wasn’t up for dealing with all of the stickiness at breakfast. However, “Don’t give her any J-A-M” does not sound as coded and sneaky as I’d hoped. She understood what I was saying and fussing ensued.
AmazingGreis says:
A cookie would be AWESOME right about now!! Preferably one of the peanut butter chocolate chip variety!
Lamb says:
Want to get back at Mike?
“…the vast majority of kids who blow of school because they are convinced…”
Yep, straight out of his blog post from today. I remember those long high school days, always blowing of school
(Sorry Mike!)
Megan says:
My mom insists that her cat now knows what c-h-i-c-k-e-n is, so now we have to scramble it. I love you and Mike’s back-and-forths! And how you involved the checkout person!
I watched the video again, and I had a couple of co-workers watch too. It’s really cute. I hope you guys win, you deserve it.
Angel says:
We do that… except when I spell my husband has that look on his face, the wheels are turning and then he works it out verbally… “C-oo-k-ie…oh COOKIES, you want me to get the cookies!” Ugh.
jess says:
Oh, this has me in stitches!!! It reminds me of a story about my Sophia (now almost 3). When she was about 18 months, I took her to the grocery store. As I’m trying to strap her into the cart she starts screaming, at the top of her lungs, “I SUCK!!! I SUCK!!!” (translates to: “I’m stuck!” Which in Sophia-speak meant: “You’re strapping me into this awful cart and I don’t like it so LET ME OUT NOW.”) I’m sure the other grocery store shoppers looooved that.
Ashley says:
Funny, at work we were just talking about our kids and how they speak and we spell things. Also, about how they pick up on things… when I’m driving and I’m not particular happy with traffic – I say dammit! The other morning Jax was caught in a sheet trying to get out of bed, he looked down @ his foot and said “DAMMIT” I was proud LOL he used it in the right context!
Every animal we see is also a “DOG!!” Even the giraffes @ the zoo on Sunday were “DOGS, Momma! DOGS!”
Sharyn says:
Mike’s just being obtuse. You’re completely right, and don’t tell me he doesn’t LOL or OMG occasionally.
Rebecca says:
You need to start shopping at a grocery store that gives free cookies to the kids. Where we shop every kid gets a free cookie just for going in. Yeah, we’re lucky.
Kristi says:
That Rigby has to be the most tolerant pup on the planet. She deserves a COOKIE! Have watched the video several times and think it is a real winner.
Kristin (MamaKK922) says:
MMMM Cookies.
And I watch several times a day at least.
I am still finding the one group that say they have like between 20-70,000 views shady. Seems not right to me. I would demand a recount. And YouTube needs to fix these glitches darn it, Furniture depends on it. If it were up to me you guys would already have won.
Rumour Miller says:
Love it! I love this stage when they start talking. I enjoy their own versions of certain words.
My oldest used to pronounce “yesterday” as “yasday”. *sigh* Enjoy.
Brittani says:
I’ve played it like 6 times. Hope that helps!
Erin says:
Oh my goodness!!!!!! Too funny! Our dog figured out how to spell park, which was also a pain.
AngieM. says:
LOL..that is hilarious!
also, i’m seriously hoping you win…because i’d live vicariously through you and the 20k furniture
xoxo
amourningmom says:
Came to watch the video again. Hope that you win! Thank you for the laugh too.
Andrea says:
Try adding the video to a playlist alone and put it on auto replay! I’m doing my part and helping to make sure you get that new furniture!
Andrea says:
You can even open multiple windows and get it going!
Katrina @ They All Call Me Mom says:
Ha! You guys crack me up with the whole grocery scene. Too funny. But seriously…why Mike didn’t “get it” with the first few letters…COOK….to know that it was going to spell out “cookies” …I mean, come ON. What else could it have been?
I love that Annie is starting to talk. I bet the Rigby and Annabel movies will really take a turn once she is able to say her own lines! Good things to come!
Carrie says:
My 2-year-old and I just watched this and now she’s running around singing the jingle! We loved the video!
Sharyn says:
Your story reminded me of trying to trick my daughter when she was a bit older than Annabel. I wrote about it today.
Hope you win the furniture.
Leigh Elliott says:
I love it! I am ready for you guys to have your own reality show, you are the best!
Heidi says:
I still get those weekly Baby Center e-mails and it recently suggested that parents limit their use of “no” with their children. OK, I thought, sounds good. And much like you guys, decided to try the “please stop” method instead.
So the other day Audrey (same age as Annie) is whining and getting tantrum-y so I kneel down to her eye level and say sternly but gently: “Audrey, please stop whining”.
She looks right at me, pouts, and whines “noooooooooooooooo!”
(Her apeshit words include: go, baba (bottle), cookie, and doggie. And *every* animal is doggie. And every guy is “dada”, which can get a little embarrassing for me, let me tell ya!)
Penbleth says:
I want a cook who is here to make me a cookie. Definitely.
monica says:
LOL! We’ve been there, and still spell stuff we don’t want our kids to know! YOu two crack me up, Annie is one lucky little girl!
MrsP says:
Enjoy the spelling bees, because once they start pre-school and start learning the letters, that goes out the window too. My son was 4 when he began figuring out some of the words we were spelling out so he wouldn’t understand like P-A-R-K….LOL It shocked us now we have to have secret conversations so he won’t overhear us.
Gwen says:
Sometimes I like to mix it up and use pig latin instead of spelling out the forbidden words. Although this really doesn’t work on some words.
Kelsey says:
My older child is six, finishing kindergarten, and learned to read. Not even the spelling trick works around here any longer unless we can think of difficult synonyms. (Spelling cinema instead of movie for example) We think it might be time to learn a foreign language so we can spell things she won’t understand! So, er, good luck!
Nil Zed says:
My parents had the best trick: convoluted descriptions. I can remember my parents telling one another “listen carefully” and then hearing things like:
“you forgot the small baked goods” (cookies)
“no, the black and white layered baked goods are hidden under my sweater, hey kids, mommy will finish with the check out while you and daddy bring the car around!” (oreos, get the kids out of here so I can pay for them.)
“should we go to the vendor of round bread products for dinner”(pizza hut)
“I’d rather go to the place with poultry prepared in oil” (KFC)
“There’s only a small amount of frozen dairy confection, just for us”(no ice cream for the kids tonight!)
I grew up in a large family, my older brother and I, once we figured out this system, had to be taught to go with it, because if we spoke up and gave it away to the younger sibs, the deal was off. The same rules applied to the vernal rodent and the dental magician and the bearded man.
(Years later, I discovered Piers Anthony novels and my spouse and I used the phrase ‘adult conspiracy’ as an alert meaning ‘listen carefully’.)
Elizabeth says:
You guys just gave me a laugh I desperately needed!! By the way, going to watch the video a few more times.