Mabel has a problem with her L’s. She simply misses them out. It’s kind of sweet when she’s babbling away, not so much when she’s shouting at the top of her voice in the middle of a shopping centre about the “BIG CLOCK”…

Yes that’s right folks, my soon-to-be-two year old angel-faced daughter essentially yells “Mama! Look! BIG C*OCK!” whenever the moment takes her or we happen to be walking past a store that sells watches. As you can imagine I die a little bit inside every time this happens. And the effort to “shhhhh!” or try and encourage the correct pronunciation is usually met with a frown and a rather indigant “But Mama, BIG C*OCK?” (pointing) “There There Mama! BIG C*OCK!”

No, I don’t know why she has to add the sizing adjective every time either.

To add to Mabel’s apparent obsession with time pieces that sound distinctly more like male nether regions, when putting together two words for whatever reason Mabel cuts them in half, add this to her cute lisp and “Bunny Rabbit” is essentially “Basht Sh*t” or basically Bat Sh*t….

Mabel takes her Bunny Rabbit nearly everywhere with her. I have endeavoured to try and swap it for a cuddly cow, a small fluffy sheep, a squeaky penguin…but no.

Bat Sh*t it is then.

In recent weeks the whole telling-the-time scenario has become increasingly less popular. Hooray! I no longer have to try and do some kind of military precision planned diversion whenever we’re in the vicinity of a branch of Goldsmiths.

And just as everything seemed to be improving in terms of being slightly less red faced when out in public, I have made the mistake of attempting to bribe Mabel with a square or two of Dairy Milk in exchange for various items from my make-up bag that she is so fond of half-inching (Bad bad mother). Mabel now frequently asks for “Choc”, only like with the letter L, it turns out she misses out H’s too.

Unfortunately confectionery is significantly more prevalent on our daily travels than clocks.

“Mama Mama! C*oc! pleeeease!”

Oh well, at least she has impeccable manners.

If you are reading this on the day it’s published it will be a Monday – now nicknamed by the team at Rock My Towers as “Manic Monday” complete with The Bangles track of the same name as our theme tune (apologies in advance if you now can’t help but sing this all day, further apologies if you have no idea what I’m talking about – you are probably too young.) I’m not sure why Mondays have become so mental, probably because we’re so busy, and the vast majority of us have kids, so we’re probably still suffering from a weekend of being a constant entertainer and tantrum reducer. Anyway, if you’re also feeling Monday-ish (or manic) then please feel free to share your little’s alternative use of the English language in the comments box below and treat yourself to a strong coffee and tube of mini eggs.

Or gin. Gin is also good.

Photography by Little Beanies