Luke Speak

(This is a post I started on Nov.5th, but never finished because Dylan got suddenly sick.  So now in honor of Luke's birthday, I am going to finally finish it and post it. )

All of my children have been late talkers, and all have had speech problems.  My friend Diana, who is a speech pathologist, would have a heyday with my kids.  Luke is actually my best talker of them all, which isn't saying much.  But when they do open their mouths, and you can understand them, it sure makes for cute!  Lukie has a vocabulary all his own, and I love every word he says.  So I wanted to make a written record of "Luke Speak" before that rare language is lost forever to history.

Yesssssss!  - When he is really excited about something that "s" sound lingers on his 'Yes" for a long time.  The more excited the longer the "s".

bup-a-low - By far, Luke's favorite word!  Any guesses what it means?  Buffalo.  Luke is madly obsessed with buffalo ever since our trip to Yellowstone this summer and a too-close encounter with a buffalo.  You'd be surprised at how often a buffalo can come up in conversation around here.  "Bup-a-low" this and "bup-a-low" that.  He will tell me whole drawn out sentences, and the only word I recognize is "bup-a-low".  Just driving down the street he will tell me that he sees buffalo.  If we lived in Wyoming, maybe.  He has a stuffed buffalo from our trip that he loves and has to have with him all the time, and when he ever sees a picture of a buffalo he gets really excited.

ruff - The sound a dog makes, obviously, but also the actual dog is called a "ruff."  Luke really likes ruffs, but not as much as bup-a-lows.

hee-haw - In the same vane as ruff, a hee-haw is a horse, of course.  Again less popular than both bup-a-lows and ruffs.

who-who - Luke's version of "Ho-ho", as is Santa's favorite line.  "Who-who" means Christmas and everything that has to do with Christmas.

who-who shree - Christmas tree.  See how that works?

Mum - Mom

Dat - Dad (he sounds very high brow, don't you think, addressing his parents as Mum and Dat?)

oh - go

Ahma - Grandma

haf - house

Alice - Alex

beep - bed

bobo - bubbles

baf - bath

So now, with a few simple words, you can understand whole sentences.

Me oh Ahma haf - I go to grandma's house.

Me oh Alice beep  - I go to Alex' bed.

Me oh bobo baf - I go take a bubble bath.

When you ask him "What's your name?" he used to answer "baby" for a long time.  But he realized that was silly.  Now when you ask him his name he answers "Me."  What else?  That makes much more sense.

Luke loves to sing.  His favorite song is "Old McDonald", and his favorite part is the "ee ii ee ii oooh" part, only when Old McDonald has a dog, he sings "ee ii ee ii ruff," and when he has a duck he sings "ee ii ee ii wack," etc.  Most of the time he is just walks around singing "ee ii ee ii huppo."  I'm not really sure what animal the farmer has on his farm that says huppo, or if the farmer has a hippopotamus on his farm, but he is constantly singing "ee ii ee ii huppo" everywhere he goes.

Like Caleb used to have, Luke has his own theme song - his own tune that he made up and sings all the time.  It goes "Uh, uh, u-uh", with that last "uh" going up in pitch, like the Superman/Superhero "Dun, dun , du-duh" sound effect when ever the super hero arrives.  You know the sound.  Funny thing is, Caleb's tune used to be remarkably similar to the Darth Vader tune that plays whenever he show up on the scene.  Hmm.

And even though Luke has a limited vocabulary, he still speaks in full sentences.  He just replaces words he doesn't know with "uh", so a full sentence might sound like this: "Uh uh uh uh big ruff, uh uh uh uh haf."  Something about a big dog and a house. Or "Uh uh uh uh me uh uh uh uh ahma uh uh."  Something about him and Grandma.  He tries so hard...

 

...well, that was 4 months ago, and a lot has changed since then.  He talks much better now, which makes like a lot easier for all of us.  But he still hangs on to a lot of his original Luke Speak, and has added some new words.

seesaw - No.  Not the thing on the playground.  It means pizza.

shu shu shrain - choo choo train

Naynay - Nathan

Eric - Derek

Aaron - Dylan

Arab - Caleb

Abu Abas - No, not a Taliban leader.  It mean Sponge Bob Square Pants, obviously.

ooh ooh aah aah - Like ruff and hee-haw, it is the animal that makes that sound.  Yes, a monkey.  

mo - more

ma - milk

bees - please

  mo ma  bees - a phrase he uses often.  More milk please.

de-bop - lollipop

see-da - corn dog

yous - yours

mup - cup  

Yous see my mup? - Have you seen my cup?

happy - heart.  This is my all-time favorite!  He calls hearts "happy."  Isn't that cute?  So the heart shaped lollipop I gave him for Valentines was a "happy de-bop"

But now when you ask him his name, he says "Lu", so at least he is getting the concept, right?

While all my other kids had a hard time finishing the ending sounds of words, Luke often skips the beginning sounds of words.  So a car is "ar".  So if you can't understand him you have to think of all the words that rhyme with the word he used.  "Ar" ...let's see, bar, jar, far, car.  Oh, car.

My very favorite phrase is when he, out of the blue, grabs my chin with his little hand, looks me in the eyes, smiles, and says "Me like you!" then puckers up and give me a big juicy one right on the lips.  I guess he means he really likes me!  I better start worrying when he tells me one day that he likes girls, if that is how he shows you he likes you. 

What joy that little chatterbox brings into our lives, whether we can understand him or not.

(My spellchecker is going to have a fit over this post!)