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Heart and Soul
Baby Talk
Posted by Taye Diggs on November 9th, 2011

I don’t know about y’all who are parents, but with my son, Walker, I’ve somehow started adopting a new “dad”  vocabulary. I have no idea when this started, but it’s something I don’t even realize I’m doing. At least Idina and I don’t get too carried away with the baby talk – we mix things up and sing around the house, too, which is something Walker loves.

Some words I’ve used, translated below…
“pop pop” — pacifier
“banky” — blanket
“baba” — bottle

How about all you parents out there? Have you caught yourself doing this at home with your little one?

I'm not a parent yet, but when I'm with my nephew I end up calling my sister "mommy" and simplifying my language a lot.  Instead of, Do you want to go to the farmer's market and buy some cheese to make lunch?, what comes out is, Wanna go get cheese???  Then there were the days when I answered to Bunny, Bessie, and Bossie due to my younger brother and cousin not being able to say my name correctly.  :)

With my 2 year old daughter, I have definitely caught myself baby talking with her.  Binkie is her pacifier and when I change her diaper, I say I am "changing her doos".  Her "sippy" is her cup and when we leave the house we go "bye bye."  Most of the time I talk to her, my tons or inflection is different.  I am so much more animated when communicating with her.  It really gets her to respond well and engage more, especially since she is autistic. 

My mum told me that she refused to do the baby talk thing with me, because doctors told her that speaking normally helps babies and kids to develop verbal skills more quickly.

It worked, but now my mum wishes she'd talked to me like a baby because by the time I was six I would say so many complicated words in a conversation that she needed a dictionary just to figure out what I was saying! :)

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  • Ane
  • Dec 17, 2011
  • 4

OMG! Walker is so cute and beautiful!