the things this kid says

"MAMA!"
"Yes?"
"Aah-pah-juz!"
" . . . wait, what?"
"Aah-pah-juz!"
"Say it one more time, buddy, I don't know what you're saying"
"MAMA! Aap-pah-juz!"

I have no idea what he is talking about, and he obviously thinks if he says it louder I'll understand.

"A pair of shoes?"
"No."
"Apple juice?"
"Aap-pah-juz, Mama."

"OK" I say, and switch tactics, "What color is it?"

He looks around for a minute, and his eyes settle on the horzion out the window...

"Bue?"
"Blue? Aa-pah-juz is blue?"
"No!"
"Well, where is it? Where do we keep aa-pah-juz?"

This makes him think too, and I finally hope we're getting somewhere.

Until he replies:

"Dak's room"
"We keep the aa-pah-juz in your room?"
"NO Mama! Aa-pah-juz!"

The conversation goes on for days, and every night his Dad and I quiz him about whatever aa-pah-juz is. A dinosaur from Dinosaur Train? The name of a weird animal of Wild Kratts? Something you saw outside? No, no, no. Twenty questions with a toddler makes for some fun dinner conversation.

"Aah-pah-juz!"

It took us a week to figure out he was saying "apologize". He wanted us to apologize every time we raised our voice to ask him to do something. We don't yell at him, but occasionally we break out the "stern warning tone", like so:

"Hey Bud, get your shoes on"
"In two mints, Mama" (his current favorite stall tactic)
"Jack, not two minutes. You need to do it right now, we're about to go out the door"
"Help Dak, Mama" (he is fully capable of putting his shoes on himself and he knows it. Another stall tactic)
"You can do it buddy, go ahead"
"Wats tiny bit besbol firs, Mama?" (the most adorable of his stall tactics, and one that usually works on Daddy at bedtime)
"No. We are not watching baseball right now. Put your shoes on"

He is still dawdling around so I switch to the "Mom Voice".

  "Jack, I asked you to put your shoes on, right now"

                           . . . "MAMA. Aa-pah-juz!"