Smecky

As a lover of words, I’ve had the privilege of listening to my two children tackle that patchwork behemoth of language, English. Little One speaks quite well for her age (6), but Patch is still wrapping her lips and her brain around “speech,” making sense of the weird sounds the rest of the family uses to communicate with one another.

We estimate her vocabulary at about 250-350 words. She turned 2 three months back.

Anyway, I love the words they make up, which usually turn out to be butcheries of commonplace words.

For example, we wondered for the longest time what Little One tried to get across when she’d say


Kermis

or

Kermis Car


Any guesses? It turns out she was speaking of Christmas and Christmas cards.

One day in the car discussing dinner plans (we were traveling on the road), Little One shouted out:


Mee-fee-toe!


This was her suggestion to go get Mexican food.

That was all four years ago. Now we have another two-year-old, whose coining her own verbiage as they days and weeks go by.

Lately, whenever I’d offer her a snack that’s not up to her liking, she’ll turn up her nose and say,

Smecky


And if she really, really doesn’t like it, she’ll shake her head furiously, noting,


Too Smecky! Too Smecky!


We haven’t cracked this one yet. Any ideas?