My Parents Understood Their First Word!

I'm so proud of them!

I was starting to wonder if they really could talk. I mean, I hear them making sounds all the time to each other, and sometimes they even seem to be directed at me, but their vocabulary seems to be pretty limited. I think they can say "no", and I think they've learned my name finally, though Dad continues to use a pretty wide variety of words when referring to me. (See this earlier post to see what I'm talking about.)

But I digress. Mom and Dad have finally understood their first word in Matthewese! They've figured out that when I say "Da", I'm referring to Dad. It took them awhile, but eventually they noticed that I'm usually looking at Dad when I say it, and I don't really say it much while he's away at work, unless he happens to come up in conversation with other kids.

So that's good. But the sad part is that they seem to be such slow learners with respect to Matthewese vocabulary. Like often when I say "Da", Mom will respond with "Ma", which doesn't make any sense at all. Why would "please pass that cantaloupe" be a good response for "Dad"? I mean, he does have a big round head, but other than that it doesn't make much sense.

Stay tuned for more vocabulary. Maybe now that they've got their first word down, things will go a little faster?

Speaking of vocabulary, we're off to China on Saturday! Stay tuned for updates - I'll try to get online over there whenever possible.

Dad says: "Mingtian women yao zuo feiji qu Zhong guo"

Which actually means "we fly to China tomorrow", because he doesn't know how to say "day after tomorrow" in Mandarin.

Zaijian! (goodbye)