NooNoo & NydNee

Because she is second we have been quietly confident that Lauren would progress from the babbling baby to the talking toddler, but that doesn't make the journey any less significant.  The sudden leaps and strides Lauren makes in vocabulary are coupled with the creative way she uses the words and syllables she posesses, which means she says alot by saying very little, or rather, saying a little over and over and over again.  Witness:

"Lauren, please don't push the buttons on the dishwasher."
"My!"
"No, mommy's."
"Mommy!"
"Yes."
"nnnDaddy?"
"Yes, Daddy too."
"Nnn...NydNee?"
"Well, sometimes Sydney can too."
"Mommy."
"Yes, it is mommy's button."

Some words are brave approximations of the actual word in question.  Where Sydney called both olives and avocado (both favorites at the time, adding to some confusion) "a-a", Lauren spit out something the other day with way more syllables than necessary, ending with something like "avoficiandocco."  Since we unfairly named her with advanced letters of pronunciation in both the L and the R of her actual name, she has gone ahead and re-named herself "NooNoo."  Other words, on the other hand, take on some attribute of the item in question.  "Dog" has become "Bow-wow,"  and the phone has logically become a "Hi."

These malapropisms are endearing and fleeting, as we have learned (I will always miss Sydney's version of "because" which instead came out as "kapuz".  I knew I would miss it and therefore I tried to find occasions for her to use the word as often as possible--possibly hastening its demise.)  Our favorite Laurenism to date, though, is her willingness to play along with our "Happy Song."  The object is to get Lauren to say the word "happy" at the right time:

"I like to be.."
"Happy!"
"I want to be.."
"Happy!"
"Daddy is..."
"Happy!"
"Lauren is.."
"Happy!.."
"Mommy is..."
"Happy!"
"Hoolio is..."
"...CAT!!"

Well, it's true.  Hoolio IS the cat.