If you hear her say “num-uh nah” . . . it means that she wants to hear the song “Mahna, Mahna” as performed by Cake.
Music = “meemee”
Phone = “whoa”
Fan = “wow” [Phone and fan sound almost exactly alike when she says them. Which makes sense, I guess, because they sound fairly similar when adults say them too. Interesting that she says "w" in place of "f", though . . .]
If she says “wok”, it could mean that she wants to get down and walk . . . or that she sees a rock . . . or that she’d like to rock in the rocking chair. (Context is very important here.)
Belt = “bup”
“wrok” is as close as she can get to fork, and spoon comes out sounding like “pung”.
Frog = “pah”
Monkey = “mummy”
Pig = “pih” [Not to be confused with "pee-bee", which means piggies and refers only to toes . . . "Pih" is the word she pulls out whenever she sees a toy pig, a picture of a pig, or Pigs In Space on the Muppet Show, which always merits an enthusiastic "Piiiiiiiiiiiiih!"]
If she says “mami”, she is talking about one of her (many) blankets, which she has recently fallen in love with. She drags them all over the house, wraps herself up in them, and uses them to tuck her doll into its cradle.
If she says “Mommy”, though, she is talking about our friend Molly. Still unable to say the letter ‘l’, Mommy is as close to Molly as she can get. It’s okay with me, because she calls me “Mama”, so at least she can differentiate.
And nothing rivals the cuteness of her, lips pursed like a gorilla blowing a kiss, asking for “juuuuuuuice!”
Beer = “bee”. Yes, my baby knows what beer is already. (Hey, at least she doesn’t call it “juice” anymore!) A common exchange, when she sees a beer:
Ilze: Beeeee!
Parent: Yes, Ilze, that is a beer.
Ilze: Ba-bah.
Parent: Yes, it is in a bottle.
Ilze (solemnly): MA-ma. (Or: PA-pa, depending on which parent she is talking to.)
Parent: Yes, Ilze–beer is just for Mamas and Papas, not for babies.
She also delights in pointing out facial features on us or on the animals. Nose, ear (”eeee!”), eye, cheek, chin, eyebrow (”eye-bow!”), mouth, teeth, hair–often with a good sharp poke to the feature being named. And with the animals, she loves to grab their paws and tell us “pee-bee!”, no matter how many times we remind her that no, cats and dogs do not like playing This Little Piggy.
