Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Voici Baptiste

(pronounced “vwah-see bah-teest”, meaning “Here is Baptiste”)

Baptiste is two-and-a-half. Here’s an account of a conversation we recently had, complete with visual documentation. The following has, of course, been translated from French.

“Gimme the camera.”
“No, Baptiste.”
gimme the camera1

“Gimme the camera!”
“No.”
gimme the camera2

“Gimme the camera, Kate!!”
“Hang on… I’ve gotta get your picture first.”
gimme the camera3

One of my favorite things about my situation is the linguistic heaven I’m in. I live in a region with a notable accent yet with a family from the Paris area (therefore with the standard Parisian accent) which, further, has small children who are still learning how to speak correctly. It’s all just too interesting and fun!

Baptiste was just beginning to learn how to express himself when I arrived back in September. In fact, he couldn’t even say my name correctly at first and so called me “Go-Kate” because he already knew how to ask to ride his toy “Go-Kart”. :o) Since then he has learned a multitude of things (including my name), most recently “C’est pas à toi, c’est à moi” (That’s not yours, that's mine) and “C’est fini dodo?” (Is naptime over?) and “J’ai pas envie!” (I don’t wanna!). The cutest, though, is when he’s trying to situate something by himself and he says absentmindedly, “Vvvoila” (There).

15 Comments:

At 10/1/06 3:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is GREAT.





now give him the camera.

Le Dad.

 
At 10/1/06 4:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The kid could not be cuter.

BESS

 
At 10/1/06 5:07 PM, Blogger Anne said...

What does his shirt say?

 
At 10/1/06 6:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought that said "vwoila" with a double-u.

 
At 10/1/06 6:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Toooo cute. It's fun to think about him learning French while my kiddo's learning English.

-RT

 
At 11/1/06 2:44 AM, Blogger Kate said...

I had to laugh, because I heard two of the phrases I listed within the first ten minutes of seeing Baptiste this morning. I love hearing that kid talk.

ANNE: I believe his shirt says "le chat" and has a picture of a cat below.

BETHANY: Yeah, I noticed that too. A lamentable result of the font I usually enjoy so.

 
At 11/1/06 10:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

He is adorable. Can't wait to hug him. And kudos to your photo skills. We could have added the captions ourselves. BTW, what's "gimme" in french?
Aunt Amy

 
At 11/1/06 11:36 AM, Blogger Kate said...

Well, in Baptiste, "gimme" is simply, "À moi? À moi? À moi?" ("to/for me?"), but with worry in his voice such that there's no question he'll be utterly crushed if he's not given whatever it may be. I don't remember if he actually said "appareil-photo" ("camera") since it's such a hard word, but I know he recognizes it, at least.

 
At 12/1/06 12:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kate, as I mentioned by your comment on our blog, thanks for remembering us on the 10th! I prayed you would remember because we needed prayers. Thank you much! Love Jessica

 
At 13/1/06 3:41 AM, Blogger Mary Ann said...

He is so cute! I love how you documented the conversation and how concerned he looks.

 
At 18/1/06 9:32 AM, Blogger Kate said...

Not that anyone's looking at this post anymore, but I thought of another thing he says that's just too cute:

It begins again with Baptiste talking to himself, then pausing, drawing in a long breath, and saying freshly, “Alors... ” (Now then... ).

 
At 18/1/06 11:01 AM, Blogger andrew said...

That may be the best one yet.

 
At 21/1/06 10:00 AM, Blogger Anne said...

Do French kids have speech impediments?

American kids say "ow" instead of "r"... do French kids accidentally roll their "r"s instead of doing the correct "Fchrench" thing?

I tried to imagine a 2-year-old saying "Alors" and I couldn't hear the "r" in my... "mind's ear"(?).

Do you "think" that I "used" enough "quotes" in this comment? And my punctuation is sketchy at best. Sorry. :o)

 
At 22/1/06 11:09 AM, Blogger Kate said...

You may be pleased to know that I think this merits an post all its own (which is another way to say that I started writing a response and it was WAY too long). I'm gonna wait until I'm done "playing catch up" and then get back to this topic. Don't let me forget! :o)

 
At 28/1/06 2:16 PM, Blogger Kate said...

"a post". Oops.

 

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