Child Talk

At two and a half years old, our grandson Ben is mastering the English language but pronunciation is still a hill to climb. Some of you always ask how he's doing? Well, he's anticipating the arrival of a baby brother soon and he's well prepared.

Here's a short Ben dictionary so you can understand him.

Dudge - close - it's our dog Fudge closely followed by Day-dee - the cat Daisy.

Granma remains Damm much to the surprise outside when others hear this tiny boy apparently cussing! I'm just Dan-dad so he's almost there.

The game takes on a whole new meaning when he asks to play Duck-ball! Work it out for yourself. In the summer we played Dick-it!

The name that he adopted for his Aunty Gemma though will stay with her for the rest of her life. In his language she became Blem-blem - but she doesn't mind.

He's got a thing about lawnmowers. In fact he's been able to say it properly for ages and every time he hears a noise outside he asks "Lawnmower?"

He's also very expressive especially with his hand gestures. When something goes wrong these are accompanied with "Don't ma--er!" Whilst when he's obliging you in some way he'll add "There you go!"

It'll be a pity when he loses all these little foibles which make daily converstaion with him so delightful.