My Little Ninny

Most of what Bennett says, I understand. He'll come up with new little "words" every once in a while, but it never takes me long to figure out what he is trying to say. Well, ever since he has been back in Montessori, he has started saying, "ninny." I've heard it occasionally over the last week, but I haven't known what he was saying.

Mama and Daddy kept him for a little while yesterday while Josh and I went to a Georgia football tailgate party (let's not talk about that game). When we got home, Mama said, "What is 'ninny'?" I said, "I don't know! He's been saying that all week and I can't figure out what it means." She suggested asking the teachers at Montessori, since maybe it could be part of a certain song they sing, or a Spanish word that they use often. Good idea.

This morning I was sitting at Josh's laptop looking at my facebook profile. Bennett wanted up in my lap, so I pulled him up there. He saw my profile picture (which is a picture of me and Josh) and said, "Dada!" I said, "Yes, that is Daddy! Who else do you see?" He replied, "Mama!" So I decided to pull up the rest of my pictures and see who else he could identify.

And then it hit me. I had to try something to see if I was right. I pulled up a picture of him and said, "Bennett, who is that?" He hesitated, then said, "Ninny!"

Ninny means Bennett!

How absolutely adorable is that? I love it! And it makes sense that he's just now doing it, because every time I go pick him up from Montessori, he waves and says, "Bye bye" to everyone, and they all say, "Bye Bennett!" Bennett is one of the youngest in his class, so many of the other children are already talking.

I'm sure they spend time each day going over one another's names and the teachers have probably said his name plenty of times, explaining to the other kids, "Bennett is upset because this is a new place for him." Or "Bennett hasn't been feeling well." I'm sure Bennett has heard his name more in the last week than he's used to at home. Plus, he's just getting closer and closer to being able to talk anyway.

So there you go. My little Ninny.