NHL the Rugrat Translator

One of the shows I’ve introduced to NHL and JSL via Netflix/Roku is Rugrats.  NHL has developed a passion for this show, burning through season after season.  He’s up to Season 4 already, the last season available on Roku.  The show went on to Season 10 meaning that the babies were "10 years old" and yet still in diapers.  I guess it could be worse.  Bart Simpson’s been 10 years old for over 20 years!

One of the premises of Rugrats is that the babies can talk.  The adults can’t understand them, but they do talk amongst themselves in nearly perfect English.  (Some words get replaced with similar sounding ones to humorous effect.)  The only one who can communicate with the babies and the adults is Angelica (and Susie later on).  Instead of becoming "The Baby Whisperer", Angelica uses this communication advantage to impose her will on the babies every chance she gets.

Getting back to our kids, JSL has developed a problem speaking.  He’ll drop syllables and seem to expect that we’ll understand him just fine.  If, for example, he wants fruit chews for a snack, he might ask for "uitews."  If he wants his feet covered, he might ask for "ahk."  Needless to say, this can get frustrating.  He thinks he’s being perfectly clear in what he wants and we can’t figure out what he’s saying.

We had one of those moments yesterday.  JSL didn’t want to eat dinner.  Instead, he wanted to play.  But he didn’t want any of the toys we had out so we asked him which toy he wanted.  "Idoam."  We looked at each other, had no clue and, on a whim, asked NHL if he knew what his brother wanted.  Calmly, NHL said "He wants his video game."

Apparently, NHL speaks fluent JSL the same way Angelica spoke fluent baby.  Let’s just hope that NHL uses his gift for good and not evil.  And by using it for good, I mean he is now the Official JSL Translator.