Unngm

Is that how to spell the “gulping” sound? You know how you can learn to speak “kid”? – and particularly how each kid has their own way to learn words? Well, Clara is 21 months old now and learning all sorts of words: Mama, Dada, Emmie (Emery), Buuk (Brooke), Riah (Moriah), Duug (dog), Fruug (frog), Baw (ball), Okee (o.k.), Hat (helmet), Mewk (milk) and of course, “Baa baa”. But there are a couple of mysteries happening here as well. She refuses to say her own name. We are sure she knows it, because she has said it for us. But she basically refuses to say it when we ask her to. She’ll go through all the body parts and names of family and friends, but when we ask her to say “Clara” … no way, not happening! It’s a crack up. Also, she has a very funny word for “water”. She knows what we mean when we say the word ‘water’, but she doesn’t want to say it herself. Her substitution is something like “unngm”, a unique version of the gulping sound. She often also points to her throat when she does it. That means she want a drink of unngm. My heart melts every time.