Eleanor’s word count is up to 5: “Doggie”, “Duck”, “Mama”, “Dada” and “Hi”. She may also have said “Leo” on Sunday. I am also trying to teach her to turn her mysterious “mnumnussss” sound into an intelligible “numb nuts”. I love the idea of a baby saying “numb nuts”. Other baby tricks include giving kisses (lunging at a person or toy with a mouth open like a 14-year-old french kisser’s) and giving high fives (she bats around .777 with this one which makes for some embarrassing un-returned high fives in front of audiences).
This is all to say I like teaching her things. But sometimes I run into questions. Should I teach her the general class of “birdy” first or go straight to “mallard duck”, “chickadee”, “cardinal”? Do I just say “flower” or “marigold” and “daisy”? Does it matter? Probably not. But I’ve come up with the Carroll System of Baby Binomial Nomenclature (CSBBN): baby-talk “genus” first and then common-name “species” second.
For example:
Birdie canada goose
Pretty Flower forget-me-not
Nice Plant karl foerster grass
As we progress, I hope I can abbreviate the genus into a single letter to encourage her to be more specific but still give her a guiding category:
B. great blue heron
PF. fuschia
NP. pumpkin vine.
I’m pretty sure the system will be the Next Big Thing. Until then, you can hear me – and see me pictured above – muttering to my daughter Little Fishy probably-a-newt.
I have been wondering about the same thing, and feel that the CSBNN system suits my needs perfectly. I will buy the whole set. Will that be in a bound volume, or flashcards?
Ezra is working so hard on “yes” and “no.” His enunciation is getting really good, and he makes hilariously exaggerated head nods and shakes. His understanding of the words is spotty though. He knows “no,” to use it, as in, “no, I do not want any more of those blueberries, stupid mom,” but he does not seem to understand when I use “no,” as in “no, baby, please stop biting me.”