These are the top ten cutest things to hear Peter say:
10.
"RICE!" (translation: "SURPRISE!") -- Alicia and I heard him saying "RICE" over and over at us yesterday evening, and it took us a while to realize he was saying it after hiding briefly behind a curtain. Today, he has been running up to me with pieces of paper bearing his artistic scribbles and presenting them to me while yelling "RICE!"
9.
"Joo" (translation: any liquid to be consumed) -- I suppose he always heard Charlotte referring to her sippy cup as "juice", and decided that "joo" must mean something that you drink. He spits out juice whenever he tastes it and he vastly prefers drinking plain old water, but he still calls it "joo".
8.
"M'ow" (pronounced like a mashup of the two syllables of meow; translation: "meow" or "cat") -- Peter has a love/hate relationship with the cats. In other words, he loves them and they hate him. Peter's great love is to lie down on something soft and squishy (like his pillow pet bubba), and he figures cats fall into the acceptable squashing category. The cats disagree. Peter also thinks it is HILARIOUS to poke at Pacey when Pacey is up on his pillow (barely within Peter's reach if he stands on the rocking chair in our room) and for Pacey to hiss and smack at him. Pacey disagrees. Peter's idea of a good time is to try to drag Rocky around by his gorgeously fluffy tail. Rocky sincerely disagrees.
7.
"Ree, GO!" (translation: "ready, set, go!") -- This one is made even more hysterical when accompanied by the visual of his stubby little legs pumping as fast as he can make them go as he races away.
6.
"FWEEEEEEEEEE!" (translation: an elephant's trumpeting sound) -- This was one of his very first animal noises, and he does a pretty darn good job making the sound while pretending his arm is a trunk. Okay, so this isn't really a word, but he also uses it as a noun to refer to elephants.
5.
"Nonnie foo foo" (translation: "Connie dog") -- All dogs are "foo foo" to Peter. That's also the sound he makes when you ask him what a dog says. It's funny how Peter can say a hard "c" sound when he refers to his beloved "car-cars", but he says "Connie" as "Nonnie".
4.
"Wa' show" (translation: "watch show") -- Unfortunately, Peter watched much more TV much earlier than Charlie Jo. He gets into crazy scary tantrums sometimes when the only thing that will calm him down is to watch a show. These tantrums can't be soothed by cuddles, food, music, books, stuffed animals, time, or any other techniques that I have ever tried. And believe me, I have tried it all. He still absolutely adores books and his favorite time of day is cuddling story time before nap and bedtime, but the TV is sometimes the only magic trick to snap him out of a rage.
3.
"Rea' book" (translation: "read book") -- He's starting to learn how to weasel one more book out of me before I kiss him good night. I spent so many months worrying about his speech delay that I can't help but obey a sweet request for another book. He's such a dream to put down for naptime and bedtime (much easier than Charlie Jo, so Corey and I always sigh with relief when it is our turn with Peter at bedtime) that I haven't refused this request yet. The books he likes are all pretty darn short, anyway.
2.
"Chah-yee" (translation: "Charlie/Charlotte") -- He says it probably 400 times a day, and I never get sick of hearing it. It's especially cute when he says "'mon Chah-yee" ("come on, Charlie") and then motions for her to follow.
1.
"PEE-yoh" (translation: "Peter") -- He says it so fast it almost sounds like one syllable. He love love loves to assign ownership to darn near everything, so it's common to find him pointing to the kids' sippy cups and saying "Chah-yee joo. Pee-yoh joo. Chah-yee joo. Pee-yoh joo."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Honorable mentions: "Wee-wee" (LiLi, aka Alicia), "Fay-fee" (Faithy, aka Faith Carol), "Babbee" (Abbey), "Beeee" (NanaB), "Ga'dah" (GrandDad), "Sho-nah" (Sonia), and today's newest word, "Shah-shun" (Madison).
Okay, so pretty much any words out of that child's mouth are enough to make me melt. His speech has been later and slower in developing than his big sister's was, so I savor every semi-intelligible word he utters. I know I will yearn for the wordless days sometime soon, but for now I'm enjoying the chatter.
