Keem and Ba-mom

I don't know why parents think that once their kid starts talking, life will magically become easier. I guess they imagine that instead of pointing and grunting and screeching, their child will nicely and calmly say, "Mama, can I please have the brown yogurt instead of the pink one?"
Er....
Not quite.
Consider today's scenario. We were grocery shopping and Gedalya wasn't all too happy to be trapped in his stroller. But I know better. Because the cashiers in the store know me better. The last time I had mercy on him and trusted this little toddler to behave properly in a store, he grabbed a bag at the end of the roll and ran down the aisle. I caught him and tried to roll the bags back up while holding him, when... CRASH! A tray of muffins came cascading down on us, courtesy of Little Toddler himself.

So, no, I and the workers in the grocery were not too eager to see a replay of our last visit. Into the stroller went a shrieking Gedalya.

As soon as we got out, I offered them an instant whine-stopper: the yogurts I just bought, to drink with a straw.

"Keem!" Said Gedalya.
Trying to think fast... What is "keem?"
"Why don't you have a yogurt instead," I offered, holding out a vanilla yogurt to Gedalya and a strawberry one to Zusha. Zusha took his. Gedalya shouted, "KEEEEM!"
"Oooohhhh, you want a PINK yogurt?"

Yes, yes, I finally got it. He didn't want a crayon or cream. Those are both keeb. He wanted keem goo. I mean, pink yogurt.

I don't know about you, but I'd find it much easier to understand if he'd just point to his brother's pink yogurt and grunt or scream.

Still not convinced that learning to talk is not all it's made out to be? Read on.

Halfway through his pink yogurt he tells me, "Ba-mom!!!"
I was still riding on a high from figuring out keem, and "ba-mom" kind of deflated me pretty quickly.
Eventually I figured out that BA-MOM is brown.
As soon as I gave him his brown yogurt, he began in his high-pitched squeal, "Bwka bwka!! Bwka bwka!!" I was so proud of myself for knowing that one. It means straw, (trubachka.)