Lost in Translation: Your Guide to Interpreting "Briannese"

Although Bree is a very verbal gal she still has quite a bit of "baby language", those things she mispronounces that we just stare at her and go "what??!!" But they do make for some pretty funny conversations sometimes when you hear these unexpected words and have to do a quick translation in your head.

• "reg-ee-yer" = regular
• iguana = harmonica
• burtsday = birthday
• zert = dessert

Of course, then there are those times when it's not that Brianna is saying the word wrong per say, just that sometimes her l's tend to sound like r's and if she's talking fast (pretty much all the time) the word gets a little slurry, especially if it's got more than two syllables. In those cases, if I'm not really concentrating on what she's saying it's very easy for me to mishear and end up repeating something back to her that's just insane...

• robot eyes/lullabyes - I was on the computer recently when Bree walked up to me and started saying something. I admit, I wasn't really paying that much attention to what she was saying at that exact moment, being distracted and all. So what I heard was "blah blah blah blah Mom, robot eyes." Well that got my attention. "What? Robot eyes?" I repeated. Deservedly, she stared at me like I was a loony for a heartbeat and then said, "MOM! Not robot eyes, that might scare me! I SAID, I want to listen to lullabyes!" (She has a lullaby CD.) Oh!
  

Then there are the songs. When Bree can't make out the words to a song she tends to just fill them in with, whatever, whether it makes sense or not. Although, I can't really blame her on that one. This is a pretty human fault. After all, how many of us can say we remember all the words to "The 12 Days of Christmas." (Admit it, all you can think of is 5 gold rings and a partridge in a pear tree! Or there may be a few smartie pants' who may also know 3 french hens and 2 turtle doves, but what were there 9 of huh?) And if you're a Nirvana fan, well, I can be pretty sure that whatever you THINK the lyrics are to Smells Like Teen Spirit is not what they're really singing. (And here, as a complete sidebar, I just can't resist saying that without looking at written lyrics can anyone be really sure what words they're singing in that song? Seriously, listen to it, and I dare you to decipher every word they're saying. And then, if you haven't seen it, you should check out Weird Al's version. )

Well, anyways, here are some Bree versions of a few songs...

• At our house, Jingle Bells goes like this: "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way! Oh what it is to ride in a soup en ooh pen say! HEY!"
• And on the songs note, Bree's version of Twinkle Twinkle is "Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are. Up up up up sky so high...."

Personally though, I think the funniest things are when Bree tries to act grown up and imitate the adults in her life.

• joking - Brianna is exploring humor lately I think. She's into "laughing" a lot (more on that another time) and has been experimenting with telling jokes. But, the whole why a joke is funny thing is not quite jelling for her. Sometimes, when Mom and Dad laugh she even says, "Why are you laughing?" and I'm sure it must seem to here that we are laughing at random things. This is kind of apparent in the "jokes" she tells. They usually go something like this: "Mom, I have a joke to tell you." "Okay, what?" "What did Gingy say?" "Hmm..what?" "That it's time for dinner! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
  
• Mommy says/Daddy says - They say imitation is the best form of flattery but I think that repeating things that "so and so says" is pretty high up there too. So, I guess Bree must like her parents okay because her new thing lately is to quote one of us to the other parent. "Daddy says that we only eat zerts AFTER dinner Mom." "Mommy says that when Noah gets older he can play Legos with me!"
  
• serious talk - Travis and I are big believers in trying to explain why we are saying no to Brianna when and if we can. This especially applies to situations that are dangerous. If we have to say no to something that falls in that category it's usually followed up with a little explanation about it being dangerous and we don't want her to get hurt, that would make us sad, etc. Apparently this hasn't been falling on deaf ears since Bree decided to turn it around on me the other day when she saw me grabbing a casserole dish out of one of my upper cabinets. If you recall, I broke one not too long ago (she drew me a picture of it) and she must have had this in mind because she told me: "Mom, you have to be really careful. Because that could crash on you, on your head. And then I would be mad at you and it might cut you on your head and you would have to go to the doctor and he would peek right in there..."
• naughty or nice - Along with starting to understand rules and WHY we have them, Brianna is starting to get a grasp on what's right and wrong. Or, more accurately, what might be considered "naughty" or not. (A concept I think she started becoming aware of after watching a few Christmas shows.) This was made clear to me the other day when she said, "Mom, sometimes I'm a naughty kid..." and then she added, "And sometimes you're bad parents!" Now, I don't know where that came from, and I suppose I could have taken an ego blow from it, but it was just too funny! And I think it's kind of good that she's starting to recognize we all aren't perfect all the time and we have our faults. So, what I said was, "That's true. But we all have to try our best and do better the next time when that happens." She thought about that and then said seriously "Yep, we sure do!"

Riot! :)