Pisha Pisha Pisha Pa Pish Pa Pish Pa Pish Pitta Pitta Pitta Pitta

These are Baby Z’s newly favourite words that he recites. On repeat. All day. Every day! Over the last few weeks, Baby Z has discovered the world of speech and has begun to sound out numerous new words. Some words make sense. Many don’t.

The time now is by far my favourite since Baby Z was born, though his new born days are of course utterly precious too in a different way. At this age, seeing him interact and being able to finally communicate ideas between ourselves is such a joy. I have definitely noticed that since he has begun to communicate and I have begun to decode his mumbo jumbo, the ones that really matter anyway, life is SO much more easier, and there are less tantrums in this household because of it!

Baby Z’s personality has really begun to shine through and my goodness what a cutie he is. (I know, I know, this is a rather biased statement.) His gibberish talk is centre of many hilarious moments, and I love that I find him sometimes playing by himself as he cruises his cars in the corridors, talking to himself and repeating strange words without a pause for breath.

Since my husband and I have Indian origins, Gujrati is our mother tongue, and it is the language that I want Baby Z to learn first. However, since I am also British, I often communicate in English and Baby Z has picked up many English words along with understanding Gujrati. I know that once he starts school, English will become very much the language he uses daily, and that is why I want to stress the importance of learning Gujrati in his early years. So Baby Z will be raised a bilingual child, and I can’t wait till he starts constructing sentences!

So far his vocabulary consists of words as stated below, many of which are of course translated in Gujrati :

• Paa ~ Water
• Mum-mum ~ Food
• PaPa ~ Papa / Daddy
• Kaka ~ Uncle
• Mama ~ My Baby Brother, Mr A
• Nana ~ Baby Z’s grandfather, my father.
• Naana ~ Baby A (He says this in the most adorable tune, it makes your heart melt!)
• Pisha ~ Pizza 
• Chip ~ Chips (I promise he does eat healthy food too!)
• Dhu-dhu ~ Milk
• Twooo ~ Two (I am amazed he has learnt the number 2 already! A little random, but hey!)
• Bash ~ Bus
• Tar ~ Car
• Tuck ~ Truck / Tractor (As any young boy, he is at the start of that vehicle-obsessed stage)
• Tur ~ Tunnel
• Li ~ Lion
• Fish ~ Fish
• Woof Woof ~ Dog
• Ti ~ Tiger
• Pesfhdghj ~ Penguin (That’s why I call it gibberish, but it does somehow make sense too, I promise!)
• Meow ~ Cat
• *clicks his tongue* ~ Horse (For the sound of a trotting horse)
• Uh (accompanied by head bobbing) ~ Yes
• Shhhh ~ When the Azan sounds, or when Baby A is sleeping
• For words he doesn’t yet know, he generally points and says Uh-Uh-Uh on repeat till I guess correctly….

There you go! There’s a little insight into Baby Z’s gibberish, and as though it is very much random, it has made parenting SO much easier, and I am absolutely loving this stage of toddler-hood! Oh and for anyone that is wondering, he hasn’t really said Mummy…yet…(Yes, I will hold this against him for his entire life and make him payyyyy!)

What words did you toddler pick up first? Are you raising a bilingual child, and how did you find it? Feel free to share your thoughts with me in the comments section below!