February 23, 2012

Adult Talk


We had some friends over last night for a few beers and some conversation. We were hoping that Big Smith's latest home-brew would be ready for drinking but I guess it needs another week sitting in the bottles so luckily our friends came armed with some quality beverages and they even volunteered to bring pizza which meant no cooking for me- an evening doesn't get much better than that these days!

This group doesn't have kids and I so appreciate them making the effort to come and hang out now that our lives have changed so much with the little guy. I actually love chatting with child-less friends because the conversation doesn't always end up getting sucked back into baby topics. I truly value talking about baby stuff as well and it's so important to share this crazy journey with other mom's, but it's also nice to know that there is a possibility poop and sleep will not be covered in a thirty minute discussion.

Since I stay at home I especially look forward to a simple adult conversation and that brings me to the embarrassing thing I noticed last night... BABY TALK!

baby talking with a full mouth

I hate baby talk between couples and used to cringe when my grandmother would call my grandfather "Daddy" or heard a dad say to his adult daughter "Mommy said she's running a little late". Ick, it's so depressing to think that just because you have a child your whole vocabulary and way of relating to your spouse has to change... but it's tougher than I thought to avoid.

Over time we have come up with silly little expressions and they've just sort of stuck. Last night I casually told Big Smith to check if there was "an iggy in the diggy". Huh?! Yeah this is hard to admit but we call poop "iggy". I have no idea where it started and then the seduction of rhyming lead us to rename diapers "diggies". I also told Little Smith I had to go to the "duck, duck room" which is what we call the bathroom since it's all he understands (ducks live there) and at the end of the night I told him to go get his nuk-y and his lovey for bed. Our friends kept laughing at me and honestly... it was a little mortifying that I was so used to talking in this cutesy way that I didn't even notice I was doing it. Who am I?

saying "mama" through cheerios

We totally call eachother "mama" and "dada" when we're talking to Little Smith so he knows who we're talking about and while I'm happy to say we do NOT do that when we're alone, I guess I kind of understand how after years of filling those roles it could happen. I'm hoping this doesn't get worse over time because as I try to balance not losing who I am with the fact that I am a different person since having a child, my way with words is one thing I don't want to kiss good-bye!

And although it's not at all cute when we do it... I do have to say it's pretty darn sweet when he does.


8 comments:

  1. oh man! i'm so with you on this! Zoe doesn't quite say "Grandma and grandpa" correctly. My in laws are in town and I find myself calling them "Grahmeme and Grahpehpe" all day long. We've demoted words like "apple" to "apps" and "tv" to "weevee", "pasta" to "pata". We're trying not to because we're supposed to be teaching her how to actually say these words and ironically if i say "weevee" to her...she has no idea what I'm talking about so it's senseless that I should do this. sigh. haha.

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  2. Oh my gosh, his voice is so sweet! I can't wait until Emil starts talking!

    Also, with the baby talk... hm... I hate it too. But sometimes it is kind of funny to hear a grown man talking to your baby in this language!

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  3. Ha! This happened to us unexpectedly too. We refer to each other as "mama" and "papa" in front of the kids, and now it has leaked over to just general time, too. So not pretty. And iggy in the diggy? How cute. Sorry, but it is :)

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  4. HA! I am so with you on the baby talk. I was always kind of skeeved out when adults shifted into "baby talk" mode, especially with one another. We do call each other "mama" and "dada" in the presence of our little one, so that he understands who we're talking about but that's about it. My husband and I discussed it a lot before our son was born and agreed to try to keep the baby talk to a minimum. It's tempting though for sure. I try to catch myself and turn back into a somewhat respectable adult when the urge comes on! Ha!

    I am so happy you had a good night with booze and friends and pizza! What's better than that? I hear you about the joys of childless friends. Oh, how I love and need my mama friends, but sometimes it's nice to have pure and simple adult conversation.

    That video is so adorable I could lose it. What a sweet voice he has!

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  5. The biggest challenge is when kids grow up and you still baby talk to them , and they hate it! I like to baby talk to my teenage son more now than when he was little, odd!

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  6. Haha, this is my greatest fear! Now you're telling me it's unavoidable- oh no!

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  7. I get in trouble with my husband because Milo calls his dad "Aaron". I just can't call him daddy to anyone. Maybe "your dad" but that is it! My husband does the home brew too. Pretty awesome.

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  8. I can see it becoming a habit... I was determined not to do baby talk at all, but it just happens!! :) I've already found myself calling my husband "daddy" (when Audrey's around) but then he calls me daddy right back. Haha!!

    Oh my goodness, Little Smith's baby voice is so adorable!!!

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