The Adik Dictionary: An Adult's Guide to Understanding My Son

Adik is really, really trying to talk. He's managed to do 2- and sometimes 3-word sentences. For example, he might say, "Nak Daddy poong." That means he wants the spoon that Daddy's using. Or, "Mummy kak." Here, he's asking me to open ('bukak') something.

I decided to compile a dictionary of Adik's vocabulary, although I'm sure I'm missing some.

aa-bih = Habis (finish)
aa-woon = Harun
a-kit = Sakit (pain)
eh-kong = Air Cond
eh-kut = Biskut (Biscuit)
ek-down = Sit down
gi-gert = Yogurt
ka-kut = Takut (scared)
kak = Bukak (open)
kokok = Keropok
mee-mo = Nemo
na-nak = Tak Nak (don't want)
neh-ning = Raining
oh-dan = Hujan (rain)
oh-dang = Udang (prawn)
poong = Spoon
puh = Kipper (a cartoon character dog)
tin = Train
ting = Kencing (pee)
to-tope = Tutup (close)
weh = Wear or Underwear

Currently his favourite show is Finding Nemo, but there are some scenes in that movie which are a little scary for him. There's the opening scene when the barracuda attacks Nemo's parents and also the scene where Bruce the shark appears. Each time he watches the movie, he says, "Ka-kut! Ka-kut!" and will pull Daddy's hands over his face to cover his eyes.

Sometimes he gets so frustrated when we don't understand what he wants - hence the dictionary!