What my nearly 2 year old nephew calls his family members and why, second nephew edition

my first post on my first nephew

his mom: mami

his dad: papi

The difference having an older sibling makes. Nephew M has been listening to his brother talk for most of his life, so his pronunciation is arguably better than his brother's was at that age. If you don't feel like clicking through to my previous post, Nephew C (the oldest) said mama and dada at this age. I know it's 1 letter off, but mami and papi are the correct words.

his brother (3 years): Cistian (he cannot pronounce Rs very well yet)

his maternal grandmother (my mom): mom (in a Spanish accent). This is because whenever my mom is around him, he's always hearing me, my siblings, and his parents call my mom Mom. It's hilarious. My family has more or less given up on getting the kids to call my mom anything other than Mom, plus their paternal grandparents have usurped the abuelito/abuelita titles (although they do add their first names to them).

his maternal grandfather (my dad): Lito, sometimes 'ito (see previous post for explanation)

his aunt (me): Tia Amy. Readers of my first post in this series will remember that my older nephew C called me Tia and called all his other aunts Otra Tia (other aunt) at this age. Karmatically, M will only ever call me by his other maternal aunt's name (my sister-in-law). This is because there is a Lovevery book where the child protagonist goes to the doctor and the nurse is called Nurse Amy, and also because Amy is easier for him to say than Michelle. He fully 100% means me. (In case you're wondering, my older nephew C will only call me Michelle these days, despite calling his other aunts Tia [name]. I like to think it is because of our bond.)

I have not heard M address or talk about his other aunts or any of his uncles (my brothers live out of state and are not around much), so no idea for those. Ditto for his other grandparents. He calls his cousins by name. He is so cute and smart like his brother, but with a mischievous streak. I love those kids.

What my nearly 2 year old nephew calls his family members and why

his mom: mama

his dad: dada

his brother (3 months): baby or bibi (beebee). You would think he'd call the baby bebe as he only speaks Spanish (and a handful of English words), but he only uses the English word because it's a family habit to say "baby" in English even if the entire sentence/conversation is in Spanish. No one knows why. We all do this all the time and he's heard us do it, hence, baby. I think bibi is him saying baby in affectionate baby talk about/to his brother, like his adult family members do.

his maternal grandmother (my mom): mom (in a Spanish accent). This is because whenever my mom is around him, he's always hearing me, my siblings, and his parents call my mom Mom. It's hilarious. My sister's trying to emphasize she's Abuelita, so he occasionally calls her 'ita (Lita) now (see why below). 

his maternal grandfather (my dad): 'ito (Lito). It was decided early on that my sister's (and my) parents would be abuelito/abuelita and my brother-in-law's parents would be abuelo/abuela to differentiate them, and my dad decided he wanted to be called Lito, which is of course the second half of Abuelito. It's an extra-affectionate way of saying grandpa. For some reason saying ita/ito is easier than saying Lito/Lita.

me (his aunt): tia (aunt in Spanish). Although now he is starting to glancingly say "tia 'shel" or another adorable mispronunciation of my name. I love it.

my older brother (his uncle): tio (uncle in Spanish). My sister is also trying to get him to say his aunts and uncles' names, so he occasionally attempts a "tio 'ado". 

my younger brother (his uncle): otro tio (other uncle). lmao. He left before our nephew could grasp Tio Jon.

my sister-in-law (his aunt): Tia Amy, clear as a bell. One of his favorite books has a nurse named Amy in it, so he got her name right away even though she and my brother were only here for the weekend.

his paternal grandmother: otra mom (other mom) to differentiate her from 'mom' (my mom). lmaooooo  My brother-in-law also calls his mom Mom.

his paternal grandfather: I am not sure! I have never heard him address his grandfather when I'm around. I will have to ask my sister.

his paternal aunts: otra tia to differentiate them from me. lmaooooooo. Yes I am very smug about this. He is starting to say "Tia [name]" though so it won't last long. He also initially called Amy "otra tia" until he learned her name.

his paternal uncles: one can only assume otro tio, although I've never heard him address them since he wasn't talking as much the last time we all hung out.

his cousins: I think the only one he really knows/remembers is his older cousin Daniel, whom my nephew addresses by name (Spanish pronunciation). If he talks to/about his little cousins (two of his aunts had babies before and after his brother was born), he probably calls them baby as well (or otro baby).

I love hanging out with my nephew. He is so smart and curious and inquisitive and is picking up language like gangbusters. He'll run around and say/yell the family member's moniker when he sees them or when he wants their attention. It's so cute. He'll also grab or point at stuff that belongs to/he associates with us and say our names. I love that little guy.

Duolingo errors, part one

I use the Duolingo app for iPad and I love it a lot. In the video I made using the Educreations iPad app, I use some errors in quiz questions as a springboard for discussing Spanish and English, linguistics, grammar, definitions, dialects, vocabulary, and more.

The volume is a bit soft and gets muffled by rustling noises in parts, but this is the first time I've used Educreations and the first time recording a whiteboard video with it. Also, where it sounds like I said "betting" or "bet", I'm actually saying "vetting" or "vet". (Ironically, Mexican Spanish confuses/interchanges the B and V sounds. I've lost my accent decades ago but I have a very soft voice.) My next video will be better.

https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/duolingo-errors-1/31552682/?s=PA4q7z&ref=app