Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 787, Speaking to a Baby or Young Child.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 787.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there and download a learning guide for this episode.
This episode is all about the kind of words you would use when talking to a baby or a small child, something a mother, a father or perhaps a babysitter, someone watching a young child might say
Let's get started.
My sister had to go out of town for a couple of days and I offered to look after her 18-month-old twins.
It wasn't long before I realized that I was over my head.
Okay, you two, it's time to go beddy-bye.
Yes, let's get your jammies on.
You can keep your binky for now.
Your blankie is already in your bed, and it's time to go night-night.
Potty!
Okay, once you have your jammies on, we'll go potty.
What's the matter, Mark?
Owie!
You have an owie?
Where?
In your tummy?
Oh, you have a boo-boo on your finger.
No, don't stick your wet finger in your brother's ear.
That's icky.
Wait one teensy-weensy minute and I'll put a band-aid on it.
Michael, you can't jump off the chair like that.
That's a no-no.
Oopsie-daisy.
Michael had learned his lesson, and so had I.
Our story begins with Colleen saying that her sister had to go out of town for a couple of days and I offered to look after her 18-month-old twins.
To look after someone means to take care of someone.
I'm going to look after my nephew, who's five years old.
Or I'm going to look after my neighbor's dog while he is on vacation.
Neither of those things I would actually do, however.
Just an example.
Well, in the story, Colleen... offers to look after her 18-month-old twins.
Well, her sister's 18-month-old twins.
Twins are two children who are born at the same time from the same mother.
Well, obviously one usually comes out of the mother before the other.
I have twins in my family.
I have older brothers who are twins.
My sister has two children who are also twins.
In the story, we have two twins who are 18 months old, a year and a half.
Colleen says, it wasn't long before I realized that I was over my head.
We might more commonly say I was in over my head.
To be over your head means to be in a situation that is too difficult for you, that you are not able to manage or handle.
Colleen says to the babies, Okay, you two, you two babies, it's time to go beddy-bye.
Beddy-bye comes from the word bed, B-E-D, and goodbye.
Beddy-bye B-E-D-D-Y-B-Y-E is an expression you use with young children to talk about going to bed and falling asleep.
You may say well, let's go beddy-bye, or it's time for you to go beddy-bye, meaning you have to leave now and go to your room and fall asleep.
At least that's the plan.
The baby says no.
Colleen says, OK, let's get your jammies on jammies.
J A M M I E S is a word you use with young children.
To describe pajamas.
Pajamas are the clothing that you put on to go to bed.
If you wear clothing to bed,
If you don't, I don't need to know that.
Colleen says, you can keep your binky for now.
A binky, B-I-N-K-I-E, is again a word you would only use with a young child, a baby.
It means a pacifier, which is a small piece of usually plastic that you put in the baby's mouth so that they shut up.
I mean, so that they don't cry.
The baby sucks on the pacifier and it's called a binky.
Why a binky?
I don't know.
I tried to take care of my niece once when she was oh, maybe a year and a half old, just like the example here.
It was a total disaster.
I never offered to babysit, to look after my brother's children again.
That was 1978, by the way.
Well, back to our story.
Colleen tells the babies, your blankie is already in your bed and it's time to go night-night.
Blankie B-L-A-N-K-I-E is again a word.
Like most of these words, you would only use with a small child or a baby.
Blankie is a blanket, something you put on you to keep yourself warm in a bed.
Night-night is like beddy-bye.
It's a word you say to children when they're going to bed and falling asleep.
You might also say it just to mean good night.
Night-night would mean good night to a young child.
The baby, however, has other ideas, as babies often do.
One of the babies says potty.
Potty, P-O-T-T-Y, is a baby word for bathroom or toilet.
You might say to a young child, say under the age of four, do you have to go potty?
Do you have to go to the potty?
Either one would be correct.
You're asking them if they need to use the bathroom.
For those who are old enough, of course, to use the bathroom.
So the baby says potty, meaning that he or she, he in this case, wants to go to the bathroom.
Colleen says okay, once you have your jammies on, we'll go potty, meaning we'll go to the bathroom.
Take you to the bathroom.
Then she says, what's the matter, Mark?
Mark is the name of one of the babies.
It's also the name of one of my brothers who is a twin.
The baby says owie.
Owie, which I guess we would spell O-W-I-E, is a word that children use to talk about some injury, when they hurt themselves, if something hurts.
A parent might also use it with a child.
Do you have an owie?
Do you have something that hurts?
Usually if you cut yourself or hit yourself.
Colleen says, you have an owie?
Where?
In your tummy?
Tummy, T-U-M-M-Y, is a baby word for stomach.
Colleen says, oh, you have a boo-boo on your finger.
A boo-boo is...
B-O-O hyphen.
B-O-O is a baby word similar to owie, when you cut yourself or hit yourself or hurt yourself somewhere.
Colleen says, now don't stick your wet finger in your brother's ear.
That's icky.
Something that is icky is I-C-K-Y, is unpleasant.
It's unattractive.
We might say it's gross.
It's, again, a word used with children.
Colleen says, wait one teensy weensy minute and I'll put a band-aid on it.
Teensy hyphen weensy is a baby word used to describe something that is very small.
Another similar expression is itsy bitsy.
But teensy weensy is perhaps a little more common.
I guess.
I don't know.
I don't talk to babies very often.
But Colleen uses teensy weensy, a teensy weensy minute, meaning a very short amount of time.
And she'll put a band-aid on the baby's boo-boo.
A band-aid is a small sticky piece of plastic or some other material that you put over the When a child or an adult cuts themselves, when they have a cut in the skin that may be bleeding.
Blood is coming out of it, you would put a band-aid on it, a bandage.
I think Band-Aid is like Kleenex, what we call a brand name.
It's actually the name of a company.
The technical word or the common word would be a bandage.
But it's quite common for people just to call it a Band-Aid.
The way in some countries they use the word Hoover to talk about a vacuum cleaner in British English, I believe.
The baby says wee.
We would be when a baby is happy.
They may say something like that.
Colleen says Michael, who is the other young baby and also my brother.
His name is Michael, also a twin says Michael, you can't jump off the chair like that.
That's a no-no.
A no-no is a word we use again with children for something that is not allowed, something that is not permitted, something they cannot do.
Colleen says, then, oopsie-daisy.
Oopsie-daisy is a phrase used with children when they've made a mistake, when something didn't go as you planned it to go.
In English with adults, we would probably just say something like oops, O-O-P-S.
Oops, when you make a mistake.
Some adults may use other words when they make a mistake as well.
The baby then who just jumped off the chair.
Michael just jumped off the chair and he starts to cry.
Wow!
Michael Colleen says had learned his lesson, and so had I.
To learn your lesson means to learn from a difficult situation, maybe a painful situation.
When you do something wrong, you realize your mistake and we hope you learn your lesson, meaning you won't do it again.
Michael had learned his lesson and Colleen says she had learned her lesson too, which is not to babysit her 18-month-old nephews.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, you two, it's time to go beddy-bye.
No!
Yes, let's get your jammies on.
You can keep your binky for now.
Your blankie is already in your bed and it's time to go night-night.
Potty!
Okay, once you have your jammies on, we'll go potty.
What's the matter, Mark?
Owie!
You have an owie?
Where?
In your tummy?
Oh, you have a boo-boo on your finger.
No, don't stick your wet finger in your brother's ear.
That's icky.
Wait one teensy-weensy minute and I'll put a band-aid on it.
Wee!
Michael, you can't jump off the chair like that.
That's a no-no.
Oopsie-daisy.
Michael had learned his lesson and so had I.
Our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say, is never in over her head when she's writing scripts.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
