baby talk

My boss brought to the office her younger son, (almost) 3-year old Santoy. We had a delightful series of conversations that went like this:

Me: San ka punta? (He was to stay at the office day care for the day)
Santoy: (at least this was how I heard him say it) Hachua chi chucher (translation: dun sa teacher)
************
Me (pointing at random letters for him to identify): What’s this? (pointing Y, L, and U)
Santoy: Y; L; U (applause, applause, applause)
Me (Pointing to “J”): What’s this letter?
Santoy: Labi! Labi!

I looked at her mom questioningly and she translated: J is for “labi” - meaning Jollibee. (Now why didn’t I get that?) And of course “M” is for… guess what? – “ado” (McDo).
*************
Santoy has visited the office several times in the past and he knows us by face and some of us by name. Her mom had told him to call Atty. Chay as Tita Chay. So this time we asked him if he remembered her name. Of course he did and he called her: “Pi Chay” (This is already an improvement since he used to call her “Ki Kay”)

I was introduced as Ate Maan and Santoy said: Gogi (translation: Pogi! – I was flattered…I think)

This triggered us to ask Santoy: Are you a boy or a girl?
Santoy (with a naughty smile on his face): Chiklit! (translation: Secret!)
****************
He was holding a packet of goodies and I asked him what it was and he said: Tolek (translation: chocolate)
****************
I asked him to recite the ABCs
Santoy: A, B, C, D, E, EP, G, H, I, J, K, lemanamemanO, P, Q, R, S….

Conversations with him turned me into a heaving mass of a loud laughing machine! I can’t wait for him to visit the office again for another round of conversations. His presence sure brought sunshine to an otherwise gloomy and hectic day.

Children are such a delight to be with. You can’t help but smile and melt at their innocence. No wonder God wants us to be like children - pure of heart.