Hoo Hoo!...Mama!

Davey is a little language sponge. From what I can observe, I think he is very much an auditory learner. He often wanders away and plays with toys while I am reading books to the boys, and I used to wonder whether he was absorbing any of it. But then he will be overheard repeating lines from books later, so I think he is taking it all in through his ears and processing it away from the pictures.

Davey is a great mimic and tunes in to the way people communicate with noises rather than words. He loves to say mmm hmmmm for yes and hmmm mmmn for no, which are noises that I make. He also imitates the clicking noise that I make with my tongue against my teeth when I am calling the cats to be fed. In this aspect, he reminds me of my brother, Andy, who can learn piano songs by ear and is a great mimic of other people's voices.

But the funniest manifestation of this all lately has been Davey's ability to pick up little words that are odd noises. The epitome of this is his recent obsession with the phrase yoo hoo, which he uses correctly in context but pronounces more like hoo hoo. For example, last night he politely asked me for more milk. It went something like this:

Davey: "More milk, Mama! Please!"
Me: "Mmmmm hmmm. Just a minute. I am changing sissy."
Davey: "More MILK, Mama! PLEEEEAAASEE!"
Me: "I hear you, Davey. I am almost done here."
[Pause of a few seconds]
Davey: "Hoo hoo! Mama! More milk please!" [Said while waving empty cup in the air.]

I don't particularly like that he addresses me by yoo hoo because it reminds me a bit of some rude customers I had back when I used to wait tables. But the phrase itself makes me giggle so I am not putting the kibosh on it until I get tired of hearing a tiny little two year-old voice calling out yoo hoo like some 90 year old grandmother. I kept saying it to myself at my desk at work today and chuckling out loud.