Baby Talk

I get a kick out of listening to my grandbabies talk.

At 2 and 3, the two youngest are still in the baby stages of their vocabulary. Sometimes they make up their own words. Or, they might make a stab at saying the proper word, but it just doesn't come out quite right. If you've spent any time at all around toddlers, you know exactly what I mean.

Logan loves to watch "Super-Doo." Now, only those of us who know him and his likes and dislikes are aware that "Super-doo" and "Scooby-Doo" are one and the same. He's so into super heroes right now, with Spiderman and Superman being right up there at the top of the good list. But he also enjoys the silly antics of Scooby-Doo, loveable animated pooch that he is. Somehow, to Logan's 3-year-old way of thinking, Scooby has become something of a superhero too, I suppose.

Aidan's the two-year-old, and is capable of becoming quite frustrated when he can't make us understand what he wants - especially if he's already "told" us more than once, and we're just not getting it. But the truth is, most of the time we do get it. We know him. His baby talk has become familiar, and we know what each funny pronunciation is supposed to mean.

"Abbit meok" means he wants milk with Nestle's strawberry flavoring. There's a rabbit on the front of the Nestle's box, so this particular much-favored treat is "rabbit milk" - just hold the "R," thank you very much, and nevermind the fact you can't get milk from a rabbit. Candy is "it-ty." Pooh Bear is Pooh - imagine that! You see, sometimes he gets it right.

Sometimes when he says things wrong, it's just so cute. So we make him say it again and again, just to keep him talking.

Those times when we think God's just not hearing our prayers, do you think perhaps He's just getting us to say it again...just so we'll talk to Him? Because the truth is, sometimes we only do that (really talk to our Father...) when we want something.

And I wonder if there are times when we just don't speak the language the way God knows we're capable of, so we have to ask until we get it right. Maybe that's one of the ways He teaches us God-speak...things like praise and worship. It could be that He wants us to stop kicking and screaming and yelling and just say, "please." Or maybe He's holding the answer out to us, just waiting to hear "thank you."

One thing I do know. He listens, He hears, and He understands...even when we behave like spiritual toddlers. He's a perfect heavenly DaDa!

Clipart courtesy of ChristArt .

Delia Latham