B is for Buite

If Amelia’s vocab were to be filed, ‘B’ would take up most of the cabinet. Ok, not her vocab per sé, but the items that interest her – they mostly begin with the letter B.

And just to prove a point she will ramble all her little words to me when I greet her in the mornings. She’ll start off by pointing out the window and say ‘Buite’. And then there’s no stopping the Ba-a, buite, bo-ie, buite, baba, buite, blublubblub, Bêre, buite, etc. Don’t know whether she means that she wants to go outside (by repeating Buite) or that she acknowledges that it is, indeed, outside.

Other B favourites that she isn’t saying, but in her peuter ways conveys that she would like to know the name anyway: (all in Afrikaans) bank, bottle, bad, bed, boudjies, brood, beet, beker, Bêre. And a lot of other words get the B suffix, like Mollie. Mollie is our medium-legged Jack Russell. When she sees a gap, she slips out the gate and I end up calling her Môôô-lie, MolieMollieMollie. Amelia does a cute immitaion that sounds like Bô-ie

I especially love Bêre – it deserves the capital. Whenever Amelia get hold of a bag or box and starts unpacking it, I just have to say “Bêre”. And she starts packing things back. And she tries to say “Bê-e”, dropping the R for now.