No, Man

The most interesting thing about watching my daughter grow up is the moment I realized how effectively she uses language at the tender age of two better than some adults ever could.

I’m not saying that Caeli is already reading the Magna Carta – but since she is my kid, don’t doubt it for a second. In the meantime, I have to endure the one- or two-word phrases and assorted aphorisms as she learns how to convey her wants to something more understandable. Even in the most innocent tone known to mankind, there are only so many times the words eat-eat should come from a toddler’s mouth before we step it up and teach her how to ask for what she wants to eat. At the present date, the word C-O-O-K-I-E needs to be spelled; can you imagine the sheer pandemonium if someone slips up and says the word only for a swift denial?

This is even beyond the video of Caeli getting her ears pierced for the very first time and the extra care we have to take in keeping them clean and free from all infections. Just four hours earlier, she skinned her knee for the very first time in the driveway and shook it off as if it was nothing!

The little one gets her ears pierced

On an odder note, I think I may have accidentally taught her how to code-switch:  for the uninformed, code-switching means doing one thing for her familiar group, and switching to a different routine for the same thing around others. How? She gives the kinfolk on both sides of the tree, church kids, fellow deacons, the associate minister, and family friends dap but the neighbors get “skin”, aka the high-five. Nothing wrong with that except I’m sure Ryan or Madison next door want dap every now and then and sometimes Brother Carl would rather have skin before giving her a bag of potato chips as a snack.

Already got that strong low post game at the age of 2

Caeli has a strong low-post game and is already a better shooter than her daddy ever was. However, basketball (or sports in general) will not be her sole meal ticket to winning in this life. This is why we read, count, and doodle daily with her; an exposed child will be a more educated and culturally aware child in better position to take on whatever is thrown at her as she enters adulthood. Yes, I’m thinking that far ahead. For the first eighteen or so years, I’ll dive in front of many of those darts and lay on the grenades dug underground or tossed casually in her direction.

Knowing how to finish at the rim

In typical two-year-old fashion, the word “no” is getting some serious play – especially at bedtime.

The words our toddlers pick up and repeat constantly are the ones we use the most – or the ones we shouldn’t use, like cusswords. Don’t ask me what happened when Caeli started repeating the s-word; I bet I had forgotten something or found myself annoyed at something. Any count, I have to be really careful of what impressionable ears hear and what comes out of daddy’s mouth:  This is why I gave Caeli her very own Spotify radio station. Otherwise, those ‘shaking my head’ moments become more frequent and could get her in serious trouble elsewhere such as daycare or worse, kindergarten.

Linguists understand how we use local color in our speech to somewhat pinpoint where we are from or at the very least, identifies the dialect from whence we communicate in. For example, New Englanders say wicked-awesome when something is really great and car=cah.

Every day with #CaeliStrong pic.twitter.com/wf2UTC27Jz

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) July 16, 2017

Here in the Natural State, Caeli is very likely to pepper in a contraction such as y’all here and there instead of “you guys” as well as call every soft drink a Coke. She’s acquired the way I say “no, man!” with the emphasis on man. In an older dictionary found in my parents’ house, I recall seeing a dialect map denoting where and who uses certain phrases most frequently. The word “man” in this context is used most by African-American men in the South dating back to the Jim Crow era of calling each other “man” due to segregationists insulting them as “boy” even at very mature ages! In her case, I know Caeli has heard me say “what’s up, man?” more than I can count and now she invokes it because it is easy to say. She is too young to understand perception and crutch words as a hindrance, yet it is a pretty good idea to minimize my own overreliance on a particular term.

Being a smart cookie is one thing, and it is another to sound like an intelligent child. Keeping a vigilant watch over the words we choose to say – good, bad, crutch, etc. – can go a long way in our little ones’ communication skills. While speaking only the King’s English is ideal, we parents must acknowledge that our children converse best in the environments they are placed.