first words

Julia, 15 months.

1- Dodói, pronounced by her as "tatai".
Dodói is how you say, in Portuguese, "wound" or "ill/sick" when talking to children. Over the last month she saw her dad's leg with a big wound and one of my fingers with a band-aid. She loves the word now, and loves to cuddle us if she sees we have a "tatai".

2- Água (water), pronounced "aca".

3- Pé (foot), pronounced "péi" or "pái".

4- Mãe, mamãe, mum and mummy, used in both languages. In Portuguese, she pronounces as if she were not native speaker: "máie".

5- Papai and Daddy, in both languages.

I wonder what she is speaking in Oshiwambo... Apart from "meme", which means "mum" or "mrs" (she uses sometimes), I haven't been able to identify anything else. But she does communicate all day long with Ovambo people... so she will probably teach Michael and me in the future.