{"id":48,"date":"2005-09-12T21:34:00","date_gmt":"2005-09-12T21:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=48"},"modified":"2005-09-12T21:34:00","modified_gmt":"2005-09-12T21:34:00","slug":"zaras-vocabulary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"Zara’s vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

After speaking her first comprehensible<\/a> word on our way to Penang 2 weeks back, Zara added a few more words to her vocabulary.<\/p>\n

Aao is for Cat
\nBo Bo is for Ball
\nBoo is for Book
\nKa is for Kakak Tuyam
\nTa is for Aunty Litha (my bro’s maid)
\nUp is for Up<\/p>\n

She says Papa, Ata, Tati quite often but I can’t figure out what they mean. Tried to get her to call me Mama, but she just won’t say Mama. Maybe she’s confused why I am asking her to call me Mama when that’s what we ask her to call my mum-in-law (intonation is different, and it stands for paternal grandma in Cantonese) as well.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, she looks intently at our face when we speak to her, and she moves her mouth, as though trying to mimic us, however, no words came out.<\/p>\n

She doesn’t like us to correct her pronunciation. When she says Aao, and daddy replies, “no not Aao, CAT”, she will look away and not say a word any more.<\/p>\n

I told Daddy we shouldn’t correct her pronunciation now, but just encourage her by showing we understand what she says. Our reply should be “yes, Cat, Rusty the Cat” (Rusty is the name of our cat) when she says “Aao”. This makes her happier, and more willing to try to speak (even if it’s not comprehensible yet).<\/p>\n

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