You know how they say twins often invent their own secret languages to communicate with each other? Pretty much from the time we started dating, that's been Bear and me...except rather than some elaborate Tolkien-esque linguistic invention, ours is cutesy and kind of ridiculous. Most of the time, I'm not even conscious of it anymore, until one of us lets a Bear-ism slip in front of non-Bears and the furrowed eyebrows emerge. Here's a crash course in Bear Language:
Cozies: cozy clothes. I change into cozies (jammies or sweats or the enormous drawstring shorts I wore when I was monumentally pregnant with Keira) pretty much the minute I walk through the door from the outside world--it's a comfort ritual for me and, if you want to be all metaphorical about it, is my way of leaving the stress and craziness outside the door.
The Coze: Obviously, being cozy is very important to us Bears. "Why didn't you sleep well?" I might ask Bear, and he might reply, "I dunno...I just couldn't find The Coze." The Coze is elusive sometimes!
Pocketful of tillies: I started telling Ellie that she's "a little pocketful of silly," and somehow that evolved into "tillies." Now it's a common phrase in our house: "Why are you wearing a bucket on your head, Ells?" "Because I'm a pocketful of tillies!" Sometimes the phrase is shortened: "You, little girl, are a pocketful."
Take a nighters: take a nap. I'm not sure when the girls will realize that the rest of the universe doesn't use this phrase, or that their mother is a complete weirdo who makes up terms for things that already have very useful names, but it hasn't happened yet. At around 2pm every day, you can hear Ellie protesting, "But I don't wanna take a nighters!"
Be a tinkos: When one of the girls is pouting or giving me attitude, I might tell them, "Don't be a stinkerbutt." For some reason, "stinkerbutt" evolved into "tinkos" when I say it to Ellie, because it just sounds more toddler-friendly (??) and cutesy.
Yuv: Love you! Both girls said this when they were first learning to talk, and it stuck. My mom, sister, and I end text messages with "Yuv!" all the time.
Pones: Keira's word for ponytails and ponytail holders, from when she was a toddler. Now all hair accessories are pones, and all hairstyles are variations on pones: "Do you want tucked-in pones or one big pone?"
Grr-y: angry. It brought me great joy when I finally started watching "Buffy" and found out Willow uses this term to describe vampires, too.
Booey: sad. Because when something (minorly) sad happens, we say, "Well, boo."
Hwummy: tired...because "hwum" is that noise you make at the end of a yawn. Or is that just us? "Ready for bed?" "Nope, I'm not hwummy yet."
Minna-mins: vitamins. That's how Ellie says it, so that's how the rest of us say it now.
Toop: spit, as in when you spit toothpaste out after brushing your teeth. Keira invented this term when she was a toddler and told Bear one night, "Daddy, I just tooped toothpaste into my hair!!" I guess "toop" is kind of the noise she makes when she spits. This term never stops being funny to me.
Ready for beddy: a nightly ritual. After stories on the couch, either Bear or I will say, "OK, girls--time to get ready for beddy!" and in we go to brush their teeth and collect up their assorted nighttime loveys and stuffed animal friends. Bear and I actually use it, too: "Let's watch one more episode and then we'll get ready for beddy."
I'm sure there's much more where that came from, but those are the essentials. Oh, and the line to smack us forms...
...HERE.
Cozies: cozy clothes. I change into cozies (jammies or sweats or the enormous drawstring shorts I wore when I was monumentally pregnant with Keira) pretty much the minute I walk through the door from the outside world--it's a comfort ritual for me and, if you want to be all metaphorical about it, is my way of leaving the stress and craziness outside the door.
The Coze: Obviously, being cozy is very important to us Bears. "Why didn't you sleep well?" I might ask Bear, and he might reply, "I dunno...I just couldn't find The Coze." The Coze is elusive sometimes!
Pocketful of tillies: I started telling Ellie that she's "a little pocketful of silly," and somehow that evolved into "tillies." Now it's a common phrase in our house: "Why are you wearing a bucket on your head, Ells?" "Because I'm a pocketful of tillies!" Sometimes the phrase is shortened: "You, little girl, are a pocketful."
Take a nighters: take a nap. I'm not sure when the girls will realize that the rest of the universe doesn't use this phrase, or that their mother is a complete weirdo who makes up terms for things that already have very useful names, but it hasn't happened yet. At around 2pm every day, you can hear Ellie protesting, "But I don't wanna take a nighters!"
Be a tinkos: When one of the girls is pouting or giving me attitude, I might tell them, "Don't be a stinkerbutt." For some reason, "stinkerbutt" evolved into "tinkos" when I say it to Ellie, because it just sounds more toddler-friendly (??) and cutesy.
Yuv: Love you! Both girls said this when they were first learning to talk, and it stuck. My mom, sister, and I end text messages with "Yuv!" all the time.
Pones: Keira's word for ponytails and ponytail holders, from when she was a toddler. Now all hair accessories are pones, and all hairstyles are variations on pones: "Do you want tucked-in pones or one big pone?"
Grr-y: angry. It brought me great joy when I finally started watching "Buffy" and found out Willow uses this term to describe vampires, too.
Booey: sad. Because when something (minorly) sad happens, we say, "Well, boo."
Hwummy: tired...because "hwum" is that noise you make at the end of a yawn. Or is that just us? "Ready for bed?" "Nope, I'm not hwummy yet."
Minna-mins: vitamins. That's how Ellie says it, so that's how the rest of us say it now.
Toop: spit, as in when you spit toothpaste out after brushing your teeth. Keira invented this term when she was a toddler and told Bear one night, "Daddy, I just tooped toothpaste into my hair!!" I guess "toop" is kind of the noise she makes when she spits. This term never stops being funny to me.
Ready for beddy: a nightly ritual. After stories on the couch, either Bear or I will say, "OK, girls--time to get ready for beddy!" and in we go to brush their teeth and collect up their assorted nighttime loveys and stuffed animal friends. Bear and I actually use it, too: "Let's watch one more episode and then we'll get ready for beddy."
I'm sure there's much more where that came from, but those are the essentials. Oh, and the line to smack us forms...
...HERE.
So funny! My sisters and I have the same thing. We say 'inside' as a location. Such as if we are sitting in the living room and say 'where is Emily?' and we reply 'inside', we somehow know exactly where emily is from that vague answer! Drives my husband crazy!
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