Finn says lots of things that nobody else can understand without help. Here are a few that I enjoy:

• Agackle: motorcycle, most often said while inviting me to lie down on my side and provide my arm as a handlebar or while riding me when I’ve agreed to strike that pose. He can say motor and cycle independently and with chronological proximity, but he never puts the two together.
• Dursh: Fish.
• Garp: Grape. This is a new one. He first calls them berries, and then when I tell him they’re grapes, he says garp sort of from the back of his mouth. Maybe he’s just a fan of John Irving’s fiction.
• Abbey: Sometimes his aunt’s name, sometimes his cousin’s name, sometimes “up please.”
• Dooce: Juice.
• Holmp. Help.
• Shoon. Shoes.
• Atide: Outside.
• At: Hat.
• Ath: Ice.
• Mao mao: This is the sound a cat makes, often substituted for the word cat.
• Beebow: Baseball. Lately, instead of a snuggly furry animal or blankie, he sleeps with a baseball glove complete with grass-stained old ball from my childhood.
• Annie: Andy (as in his uncle)
• Uh Lah Doo: I love you (copycatting).
• Adone: All done.
• Nennie: Lennie.
• Ulla: Ella, or sometimes just “somebody else.”
• Yedldlow: Yellow, sort of shouted, usually in response to having it sort of yelled out to provoke him to say it. The “dldl” part is a general rattling around of his tongue in his mouth and takes different forms at different times.
• Bone. Phone.