The Beactionary

The last half of 2017 wasn’t the best for the blog. I’m hoping 2018 is a bit more productive, and there has been so much to write about that has already been and gone!

I thought I’d use this first post to catch some important things before they slip away…

For those who’ve not visited the blog before, the emphasis on virtually every post is to focus on the lovely and unexpected moments parenting provides. No-one ever really prepared me for how cool it is when your child starts learning to speak. I mean seriously, it’s genuinely incredible. Each day brings new possibilities, and every interaction gets enhanced.

I could’ve started this with a very click-baity admission- I honestly don’t think I can remember Bea’s first word. Lucy will probably not be very happy with that. I think it was ‘dadda’ or ‘rara’ (more on him in another post…). I could be very wrong. Bea has been babbling for quite a while now, and we’ve always been singing, reading and chatting to her. She has even, on occasion, laughed at jokes that we knew she had no chance of understanding (Radio 4 political satire anyone?) because we were both laughing away. Probably coincidence, granted, but still!

Anyway, onto the point of this post. What is the ‘Beactionary?’

As you may remember from Beacember ( no time or energy to keep that tradition going in 2017!), I love a Bea-based pun. I thought it would be a nice idea to keep a track of those words that all children go through. The ones that you, as parents, completely understand but are completely unintelligible to outsiders. The ones you’ll forget when they learn the actual word for what they want to say.

Here are a few of my favourites so far:

anduncanda: advent calendar (of course!)- perfect example of what I mean. We knew exactly what she meant. Out of context, you would definitely have no clue!)

rockarocka: crocodile. As with all small children, their worlds apparently revolve around animals that don’t appear in Britain’s natural habitats (she can say zebra for example!).

noman: snowman. Her new obsession. We have read the book of the Raymond Briggs cartoon countless times, and big inflatable ones outside houses have been a great source of entertainment!

uppies: this is used in a variety of ways. If she wants picking up, to climb up things, this makes perfect sense. Also used when needing to get down from somewhere or fed up of sitting at the dinner table or being in the warm, comforting arms of mum and dad…

There are many other ‘almost there’ words, and she has nailed the inquisitive ‘daddy?’ and ‘mummy?’ intonation. I will try and add to the Beactionary over time, as I’ve certainly forgotten a lot of them already. Trying to keep up and being constantly amazed is a hugely positive part of watching your child’s development, and definitely something more expectant parents should hear!