MARK MY WORD: ONE WORD IS EVERYTHING IN TODDLER TALK

Even at 16 months of age, Bailey knows that some things are just yucky

It's amazing how many words a 1-year-old knows and how well they can communicate without using full sentences.

Our 16-month-old daughter, Bailey, can talk all day in one-word sentences.

She tells us when she wants "up" or "down."

"Up, up, up," she pleads when she wants us to pick her up. When she wants out of her highchair, she says, "Down, down."

No need for extraneous nouns, verbs and other assorted language here. No multi-syllable words here.

If only government bureaucrats could speak this clearly, we wouldn't get entangled in all that red tape.

Of course, there certainly would be more pushing. Bailey has pushing down to a fine art when it comes to her older sister, Becca. She also has pulled on Becca's hair from time to time.

In such cases, a lot of words aren't necessary on her part. As parents, however, we have to respond with admonitions.

Bailey often says "no" when we're trying to change her clothes or when we ask her to do something horrible, such as share with her sister.

I'm not surprised. "No" is indispensable in the parenting world. Most families could write whole books on the word "no."

When Bailey says "no," it is definitive. She means it. When that doesn't work, she tries to run from the room.

Fortunately, she hasn't learned to run full-speed. It's more of a toddler tot, which makes her easier to catch.

Bailey says hi and bye with ease. She even waves when she goes upstairs to take a bath. Of course, she waves at the rabbit in our front yard too.

She'd be perfect for president. She loves to wave and isn't one for speechmaking.

Juice, milk and bottle are all part of her vocabulary, although bottle sounds more like "baabaa" and the word "juice" is stretched out like the words in a Methodist hymn.

She can name that popular, purple dinosaur and beg for a "cookie," that all-important food item for growing boys and girls.

Even at her age, she knows that some things are just "yucky."

An ingrown toenail is yucky. So are dirty diapers, overdue bills and dreary weekends.

Food mashed onto the highchair's table top is yucky. So is bubble gum when it is stuck to your child's long hair.

As a dad, I'm glad she knows that some things in life are yucky.

But I'm also thrilled that she waves to rabbits and views the driveway as a world worth exploring.

For Bailey, a trip to the mailbox is a wonderful journey, never mind that it only takes minutes and that often she comes away with yucky junk mail.

She loves to carry the mail up the driveway, hugging it like she would a teddy bear. She20even likes the bills.

But it's only a matter of time until she learns they're yucky too.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.