Stinky Mookies: the case for Toddler Talk

I think most people would agree that a person's grammatical skills are tied heavily into the perception we have of his or her intelligence level and education, right? So a lot of us moms and dads do our best to avoid the dreaded "baby talk" syndrome where bright, educated adults are reduced into blathering dunderheads at the sight of our precious children's smiles or coos.

Well, for most of us that high and lofty goal gets chucked right out the window as soon as our babies come home from the hospital. It did for me, and soon I found myself adding "ie" to every adjective known to man, not to mention discovering how much easier it is to make words rhyme using this technique.

I'm beginning to discover though that baby talk doesn't really go away as kids get older, it just sorta morphs into a slightly more intelligible "toddler talk". I'm still a toddler talk novice myself with Jack only 13 months old, but I've observed many a friend's foray into this new level of communication with their kids. In essence I think it boils down to a parent's attempt to glamorize three of the most unglamorous things: bodily functions, bodily noises, and body parts. Case in point: stinky mookies, one dad's attempt to make a poopy diaper sound a lot less unpleasant. And hey, how can anything that rhymes be so bad??

So, anybody out there have any "stinky mookies" you're willing to own up to? What silly names/phrases have you come up with since your kids came along?

P.S. Thanks to my sister Jen for sharing the stinky mookies story with me...I had a good laugh!

P.S.S The picture is from a book called Safe Baby Handling Tips by David and Kelly Sopp. It's hilarious!