Word up

Update: I've fixed the reference to the doll below to the proper "Raggedy Anne" instead of "Little Orphan Annie". As it is, we actually call her "Anna dos trapos" (Anne of the rags).

LS is getting the hang of language, despite our best efforts.

The week before last while in the kitchen I heard a pretty good "bah-nah-nyah" while Mamãe was feeding LS a banana. She couldn't quite repeat it, so we didn't know whether to give her full credit.

Later in the week she did a pretty good "Anna" (with Portuguese pronunciation!) as she looked at the doll in her room (Raggedy Anne) that she plays with when she gets up from naps (shown here after a big wet kiss). This one has been a little more reproducible than "banana" has been (of course, they are close enough that she might be wondering how these things are related).

We had some obvious word recognition lately as she learned how to respond to the Portuguese command "funga!" (pronounced more like "foonga!"). This might sound like an insult you might get from an old Italian man if you cut him off in traffic, but it actually is a form of a verb that means "to blow out your nose". It's great having one word for that! Of course, "blow it out your nose" also sounds like an insult, so I guess "funga!" can still be used that way. Feel free to use it, but expect to get a confused look if you say it to someone Portuguese.

With a little bit of teaching, LS knows to blow out her nose when you say "funga!" As she was getting a cold this really came in handy! Unfortunately, as both parents then got sick, we've gotten more practice with this word then we'd really like.

Earlier tonight it seemed there was a breakthrough in the "m" words. Up until now it seems that many things starting with "m" would blend together and mostly sound like "meh".

While skyping with Memére (pronounced like "meh-may") tonight, LS really got the "may" part out well several times. She did a good job getting out meh-may. Let's just say Memére was happy. The last couple visits with her great-grandmother and grandmother she's also approximated getting out "vuh-vuh" and "vuh" respectively. We're giving her until her first birthday (November) to get all the family names down pat.

Shortly afterward, Mamãe was putting the final touches on getting LS ready for bed and LS got out a good "mãe" (which sounds roughly like "my"). We'll see if this newfound ability sticks.

What'll be ironic is that we have few Portuguese speakers around, so she's pretty much going to sound like she's still babbling even if she spoke clearly! In fact, people probably think her parents have just been babbling for months now. Hmm, maybe we are.