Your what?
"My hayut."
I looked at my child, her hazle-toned eyes staring at me. Waiting. And waiting some more.
I looked around. Her what?
"Mommy," the tone was already hitting teenage levels. She was only three. How was that even possible?
I'm looking, honey, I'm looking.
The kitchen table? Maybe?
Is it here, sweetheart? A shake of the head. What about inside? More shaking.
I honestly have no clue what you're asking for child - I wish I did because that would help us avoid any sort of a meltdown and it would make mommy very happy ...
"My hayut, mommy. I want to go outside. I need my hayut."
Oh my sweet mother of G-d, her HAT!
Hang on, baby. Mommy will get your hat for you.
If you don't know me well enough yet - you'll know that I in no way whatsoever have myself a Southern accent. We've been here since 2006, and I can adjust my dialect with the best of them. (I once spent less than three days in England and seriously picked up the tone when speaking with people around me. I kid you not.) But I do not have a Southern tone at all. None whatsoever. I even laugh at myself when I say y'all, as it just doesn't flow. I call my daughter ma'am sometimes because it just comes out - I swore it never would - but it does - and it still sounds ridiculous. So when I sit here and listen to the sounds that come out of my child's mouth, I am often amazed at how Southern she sounds. She's a Southern belle of her own making, and her New Yorker momma and her New England-Maine-ah daddy ain't got nothin' to do with how she uses her words.
Now I just can't wait til she starts going to school. Whooiee. We're in trouble then!
Haha! I was thinking "haircut" :) Great post!
ReplyDeleteJenn and Casey! I totally thought she wanted a haircut too! Ya know you're in trouble when you can't understand your own kid. Me? I'm always saying, "Stop mumbling! Project from the diaphragm." The kids always say, "We are, Mom. You're just deaf."
ReplyDeleteI've so been there. What on the world is my child trying to say? The hurry before the meltdown made this piece quite convincing.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how children pick up accents, we used to absorb a fearsome Brummie accent on holiday. :)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking 'hair cut' too! What an adorable accent.
ReplyDeleteI love that. How sweet to the ears. All I have is the remnants of a jersey accent and trust me the southern way of saying "hayut" is cuter than the way we say it in jersey - "friggin hat."
ReplyDeleteI was thinking 'haircut' as well lol...awesome post. Happens here all the time too...
ReplyDeleteSo, I moved the opposite of you. Grew up in Alabama and then moved to DC at 18 and stayed.
ReplyDeleteYou do not want your child to sound like a hick, so correct the "hayut" but let her keep the "y'all".
I cracked up reading this because my 3yo sounds like that, too. Except we live in Massachusetts so we assumed it was a Boston accent! When she says, "o-vah hee-yah" - aka, over here, it sounds very Mass. to us. But I guess it could be interpreted at Southern. LOL!
ReplyDeleteYes ma'am you are in trouble. I knew what she said from line one. LOL! Enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOD! This is my life too.
ReplyDeleteMy sons speak with an accent you can cut with a knife....and I'm equally parts fascinated and horrified.
Too funny! Sweet girl!
LOL! New England Mainer and a New Yorker somehow managed to get a Southern belle. That's too trippy! I'm from NH and if I went down south I'm afraid I'd imitate some muddled version of a "SouthEngland" accent.
ReplyDelete