Last weekend I took my little girl to see her granny (“Oma”) in Germany. It was an occasion to speak and hear only German for a few days, as Daddy stayed home. Oma doesn’t speak much French, and I had to translate “lait” and “chat”, but also “ouais” which she sometimes says instead of “oui”. […]

We’re at the next stage, with sentences like “non pas ça” (no not that) becoming more frequent. Today we had a good laugh when Daddy threatened to do something at the count of three. He began, in a suitably menacing voice: “Un…” (one) Our little girl, who’s beginning to learn numbers: “Non, pas deux!” (No, […]

We’re still doing a lot of guesswork, but after a week or two of daddy’s hard work, our little girl has consented to calling a cat a “chat” instead of “mau”. Other words evolve without help: until very recently, her evening bottle (whether milk or soup) was designated as “lolo”, but now she makes the […]

After another two-word sentence tihs week, “maman encore” (mommy, do that again), my little girl has finally mastered the word yes. “Oui” (mostly) and “ja” (occasionally) replace her longstanding “hm” that we’ve generally taken for assent to far. There’s also “là” (there) when pointing at something, which she had not used in that way before. […]

I might or might not have mentioned that our girl, when she’s in the right mood, will repeat words after us. With one exception: If she already has a word for something (like “mau” for “cat”), she won’t say “cat”, however often we say it. She’ll stick with “mau”. So I guess her onomatopoeia should […]