Lost in the Translation

What does this mean?  Lost in the translation... Generally, It's when something is translated into another language and the original meaning can not be perfectly translated word for word into the other language. To make up for the loss they have to rephrase or say what they mean in a different way. That is the typical definition.
Most often when you hear this discussed its between foreign languages.  Unless, that is, you are the parent of a toddler.  Every family with children has (or has in the past) some form of toddler language that they must interpret and learn to communicate with the "foreigner".  Sometimes we have a babbler, which is often the most difficult because babbling is not very articulate and is often accompanied by hurried and frantic hand gestures.  Then, there is the child that grunts in varying pitches or with syllables.  Let's not forget the child that has pronunciation issues...ie. Mixing up the "p" sound with the "b" or the "sh" or "th" mix ups...those are always fun.  
Each of our kids has had their own little issues, some minor, such as Caleb, who used to practice words quietly to himself in the car and wouldn't blurt them out until they were 100% correct...contrast that to Ethan who had the misfortune of being physically UN able to say the "tr" blend and instead used the letter "f".  Unfortunately, he also had a HUGE fascination with trucks of any fashion.  Ooooh, I can't tell you how many times I wanted to crawl under something dark and low to avoid the terrible stares of people who were in ear shot.  
so, so many times.

Thankfully, Emily's "toddler language" has been what I consider "safe".  She began babbling constantly and then began babbling with hand gestures and voice inflections as if she were saying real words....that was sooo funny.  We had a lot of laughs during this stage.  You can see what I mean here in this video.

While she had some mix ups in consonants, such as asking for a "grink" instead of a "drink"  or wanting to eat "bread" and asking for "dread" (and no, I don't make my own bread, so she wasn't complaining)  Now that she's three, she's in the stage of learning new words and how they fit into her life.   
Lately, we've been finding out the hard way that she's using real words for the wrong thing.  
For example, the other day Emily said to me from the car seat as we were on our way to the store "Mama, my rear hurts."  Being the over sensitive, compassionate mother that I am I said "Oh, well, I'm sorry to hear that, we'll be at the store in a few minutes and you can get out of your seat".  After all, car seats really can't be very comfortable!  Go ahead, think about how you'd feel if your driver/passenger seat felt like a car seat!  
Then, the other day as  Emily and Titus were sitting in the kitchen at the table, I over heard this conversation take place...


Titus:  Emily! please, be quiet.  I have a headache.


Emily: Welllllll, Titus that's too bad...you need to go to the doctor.


Titus: No, I don't...I need YOU to stop talking to me.


Emily:  Well, I'm sick too, Titus...my rear hurts.


Titus: EMILY!! We do NOT talk about rears!!


Emily:  YES, we do...I do, and my rears hurt!


Titus: I'm telling Mama that you're talking about your rear, and that's bad! Rears are only for the bathroom!!


Emily: TITUS!! (said with great exasperation)  "I'm talking about THESE rears"  
             ...as she reaches up and sticks her fingers in her EARS.


Oh, now I get it! Of course, her "EARS" hurt, not her "rear"
....what good mother I am...ya, ya, your rear hurts, we'll be there soon... 
rear, shmear...car seats are bad, blah, blah, blah. 
All this time she's been saying "rear" and I just figured she knew what she was talking about or had a new fascination with a new body part name that she learned (aren't those always fun too).  Maybe my poor baby had an ear infection!!  An earache!!  And I'd missed it!!
Mother of The Year Award.........NOT!!


If it hadn't been so funny, I might have chastised myself a little longer.  In case you're wondering,  she seemed fine and hasn't had a fever or any of the signs of an infection, not even a runny nose or anything.  
So next time your kids tells you they have a pain in their "rear", think of me and my little pain in the "rear".  Indeed, she knew exactly what she meant the whole time, but something was lost in the translation from "toddler" to "adult" language...sure wish these little people came with dictionaries...


Hey, maybe there's an app for that on my Ipod!!