Evan Speaks

And mom finally gets around to posting a blog entry after an 8-month hiatus. There are lots of reasons for the long break...lingering homesickness after our wonderful trip stateside, low spirits (depression?) most likely caused by wacky hormones, and simply being overwhelmed by how quickly Evan is changing. Well, the changes themselves aren't overwhelming, but trying to catch up blog-wise is.

So I'm not going to play catch-up. Ko-chan's done a good job of posting regularly anyway, and while most of you can't read Japanese, I'm sure the pictures have given you a good idea of how Evan's growing.

Ok, with that out of the way, let me get started with the topic at hand, something no amount of pictures can adequately describe...Evan's budding language.

We can't be sure, but we think Evan's first word was "hai" ("yes" in Japanese), followed closely by "bye-bye." And, if I recall correctly, he started "speaking" while we were in the states.

In the months since then, he's learned a few more words, but probably not as many as his peers.

These are the English words we think he knows (although he hasn't always been consistent in using them).

ah-oh (sometimes oh-ah) - apple
bahboh - ball
behbi - baby
ba-bai - bye-bye
cah - car
boppa - cup
dah(t) - duck
dada - daddy
dee! - please
go go - go
hi - hi
key - key
light - light
mee - mommy
no - no
pi pi - pee pee (he also says "pi pi" to refer to buttons, especially ones that beep)
sah - socks
shu - shoe
ska - sky
spoo - spoon
tee - teeth
tee - tree

Japanese words...
bah bah ばぁばぁ - ばぁばぁ ba ba (grandma)
bappa ばっぱ - happa はっぱ (leaf)
boo boo ブーブー - boo boo ブーブー (baby talk for "car")
dai だい - choudai ちょうだい (please)
dakko だっこ - dakko だっこ (pick me up)
do ど- ringo りんご (apple)
ha は - ha は (teeth)
hai はい - hai はい (yes)
ippai いっぱい - ippai いっぱい (many)
gko こ - neko ねこ (cat)
jiji じぃじぃ - jiji じぃじぃ (grandfather--but sometimes Evan refers to any older man or woman as jiji)
kukku くっく - kukku くっく (baby talk for "shoes")
mamma まんま - mamma まんま (baby talk for "food")
memme めんめ - memme めんめ (baby talk for "eye")
mimmi みんみ - mimmi みんみ (baby talk for "ear")
nai ない - nai ない (not there)
nenne ねんね - nenne ねんね (baby talk for "sleep")
nn nn ん、ん - wan wan わんわん (baby talk for "dog", from the sound of a dog's barking)
pai ぱい - pai ぱい (local baby talk for "throw away")
pan ぱん - pan パン (bread)
uro うろ - furo ふろ (bath)

I think that's about it...he also requests songs by name (well, names he's assigned), but I don't know if that counts as speaking.

He's also recently started speaking two word utterances in Japanese, like "mee nai" ("Mommy's not here") and "boo boo ippai" ("many cars").

I was (am still) worried about not giving him enough English input, especially because the number of Japanese words he spoke increased so quickly. Right now, though, his English and Japanese seem to have balanced out.

Alrighty, that's enough writing for today. I realize that posts are more fun when there are pictures/videos, so I'll work on that.