Words Alli's Say

Ever since Alli was first learning to talk, she's had fun with made up words. I think it's from her Dad because he does it as well. For example, there are three made up friends that Alli talks about from time to time. The leader of these little guys is Chonchy, and Alli mentions him the most. The other two are Side-Joe and Leurkler. Ty went through a phase after watching the movie Sahara where he wanted to have a funny side-kick, and this may have influenced Alli on this issue. Otherwise, don't ask me where she comes up with this stuff. One day Ty was listening to Alli talk to herself- she does that as well, but I'm thinking that's normal.

Anyway, she said, "Dear Chonchy. I don't like you. Signed Leurkler." Poor Leurkler. He always get the short end of it. Whenever Alli asks another one of her endless questions, Ty will say "I don't know. Why don't you ask Leurkler."

In Richmond, while we were having lunch with my friend Keely, Alli said to her: "You're a silly ho-ho." Luckily for me, Keely isn't actually from Virginia (see my last post), so she wasn't offended but amused. Later Alli explained to me very patiently that Ho-ho is the name of the monkey on Ni Hao Kai Lan, a show about a little Chinese girl. Oh, it's all coming back to me now.

Lately Madie has been getting in on the fun as well. She doesn't say many words, but she has two all purpose sounds. The first is "dis" she repeats it over and over until you get what she wants. The other sound she makes is "burf," which means: "I"m really mad at you." When she says "burf" or "buf" in sequence she's downright ticked. It comes underscored with a whine, so it's not hard to understand.

The language of childhood is the mother of invention, and I hope they never lose the creativity they have right now.