Secret Mum Club with Sophiena - The Talking Toddlers

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

The first word discussion continues as the ladies receive a batch of weird and wonderful baby words and phrases, some more PC than others. Plus, one mum is in desperate need of respite after a nightmare house move that’s landed her and the kids back at mum and dad’s. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, this is The Secret Mum Club. I'm Safina. And I'm Emma. And welcome to your Thursday's episode. Where we get to squeeze in all the extra bits and bobs from the week. Squeeze your bits, you filthy beggar. All of your comments, thoughts, questions and fun stories. To keep you going through the weekend.

Shall we jump on in? It's time for another. We need to get our own drums in there, don't we? Do you want a drum kit? Just so we can get the I'm a celeb. Did you touch my drum kit? Oh, you touch me, drop. Ah!

So, anyhow, what have we got today, Emma? Okay, we've had loads of responses about strange first words since we heard from an anonymous mum whose baby's first word was snack. Remember that? Do you know, I met a lady not so long ago who said to me, I listened to the episode, my child's first word was salmon. Can you imagine salmon? So highbrow.

So, and she said, obviously, they were weaning, loved to eat and so. salmon, but his first word was salmon. Mommy, where's my eggs royale? Someone and holland-days. Bring me my smoked salmon. But yes, I do remember. Yes, so snack. Right, this one is from Natalie in Yorkshire.

It says, hi girlies. My son, who turned 15 on the 23rd of December, said his first word just after his first birthday on boxing day, and it was tractor. Oh. That's quite a hard one. That is a really hard one. It's not lots of words in there, letters. And my little girl who's now seven, her first word was pepper.

Yeah. She was a huge Pepper Pig fan at the time. Thank you for making me laugh every week. Pepper has been probably up there with one of Sadie's first words. She's been able to say Pepper for a while. Yeah. And she loves it. I feel like it's quite easy to say Pepper.

Pepper. Maybe that's why they made her name Pepper. Pepper. George, she's a bit like Gorge. Yeah, we did stop. But now he goes, George. George. George.

You know what's so funny to me is that Sadie. She says daddy pig and mummy pig, but she says, and considering she can say her peas because she says pepper, she says daddy kig, mommy kig. And I'm like, you can say pee because you can say pepper, but she says pepper kig. So when she asked for her at the telly, she's like, pepper kig, and then daddy pig does something.

And she's like, oh, no, daddy kig. Oh, no, daddy kig. Yeah, no, Rennies is pig. But he really emphasizes the pig. Pig, pig. She can say, Mr. Ball. Mr. Bull, digging up the road. No, I don't think we're going to say that.

But no, he's obsessed with Pepper and George. Yeah. He says, dinosaur, just like George. Yeah, grr. Yeah, he does the girl, but he goes, dinosaur, dinosaur, girl. I do love it. I love the words. A lot of parents complain about Pepper Pig.

She's a bit naughty, isn't she? She's a bit annoying. But I think the program is very sweet. Oh, it's very sweet. I do love it. And you know what? I know I keep mentioning it, but we did. and we were really lucky because the park was empty.

We went on the 28th of December. Honestly, in my life, to Poulton's Park. To Poulton's Park. Yeah, Pepper Pigwell bit though, yeah. Never in my life have I ever seen it so empty. Like, it took me forever to find somebody to walk past them. That's how empty the park was. It was a ghost town.

28th of December's the day to go. If it's busy next year, listen, Pultons, I want some commission. Okay, because I bought the people to you. But no, it was a really great day. and we got to go on the other rides. And I was emotional, of course, as I always am, just to watch the magic in his eyes. Yeah.

And he just couldn't believe it. He could not believe that we were going on these rides and it was Pepper and George. And to the point, there was nobody on the rides. We went round on the same boat or the same train. No, same car. No. Just kept going round and round.

Four or five times. Dream. Dream. It was dreamy. I'm never going to get that again in my life. No. So, yeah, if you want to go, 28th. So between Christmas and New Year is the time.

I've got to do it for Sadie while she's still so into Pepper Pig. Yeah. I'd be so magical. And do you know what Joseph's always like, when she asked for it on the telly, he's like, oh, no, I don't want to watch this. It's too babyish. Before you know it, he's there glued to the screen. Yeah.

For hours. To be fair, my sister voice noted me the other day to show me, actually it was a video because she was showing me Teddy in the garden with the snow. That's her dog. That's her dog, yeah. And in the background was Pepper Pig. in her house. I was like...

How old's her youngest? Ever least ten. So I said to her I literally voice noted back and I was like, are you watching Pepper Pig? Was Roxanne just watching it? Just made me feel close to Renner's

if I have it on in the house. No one sat here with me. I'm on my own. I was like, God bless her. God bless her. She must have listened to it so much over Christmas and thought better catch up.

Yeah. Do want to miss an episode I do find it really comforting. We've got the lot. We've got the audio book. We listen to it on Spotify, Yoto, TV. We got the book. We're in.

We're balls deep. Yeah, we are. Okay, ready for the next one? Yes. Grace in Ireland says, Hi ladies, absolutely love the pod. Thank you. My now 17-year-old son's first word was higher.

I think that was Joseph as well. And Sadie. We went on our first holiday with him and everyone in the resort knew him as the higher kid. Oh! He'd stand on the balcony shouting, hire anyone he saw. And in his buggy, he'd say, higher, higher to everyone until they responded. That's really funny.

freaking cute. Yeah. Hiya. Hiya. That's cute. It's when I walk into Renley's bedroom now, he goes, oh, hello, mommy. Hello, ma'am. It's when he goes, oh, oh, hello, mommy.

Surprise to see it. What are you doing? What are you doing here? And he does it. When you show him something or he give him a snack, he does this. Oh. Oh, my. Oh, how many.

I'm going to have to try. It's so funny. So funny. And then he does it and it's caught. Oh, hello, mommy. So funny. The little manner is if they pick up on. I think my kids.

have said higher because I say it like that. I say it like that kind of taking the piss. Hiya. And they've learned to copy me. But if a baby says higher in the buggy, you can't. Oh, I'm hiring. Yeah, I'm hiring straight back. Yeah.

There was a little girl in next yesterday and she was so sweet. And like in front of me and I was just talking back and forth to the mum as you do. Like when you're, like when the baby's interacting with you and tend to pick up a conversation. And she was just so sweet. And she was like coming into like my legs like she wanted a hug. And you know when you're like looking and you want to say, I do have my own children.

I'm not, I'm not weird. But she's so sweet. So I kind of went down to her level and she was just like turning her little head at me and taking it all in and you just think, oh, that's too much. It melts my heart when someone interacts with the children in public. Because I'm like all they want, it's like make their day to have like an interaction. And I don't think you get that unless you're a parent. No.

Because to randomly interact with an adult is quite weird. Yes. But to like ignore something a child says, you can't do that. Yeah. So it's really sweet. She was really adorable as well. Oh. Okay, one last message here.

It says, hi, Safina and Emma. It's not a first word. I'm not a first word. Oh, she is not. Emma is not a first word. It's not a first word, but it was one of the first phrases. My son, Harry, was about 16 months old and could confidently say a few words, you know, mama, dadda, nanny.

Until one day, he decided to show us a brand new skill. We were all in the kitchen and Harry was playing with a salt shaker when he dropped it on the tile. floor and it smashed everywhere. He looked me dead in the eye and said, oh shit. My husband and I had to turn away to hide the tears streaming down our faces from laughing. From that day on, we realized we had to be a bit more careful about what we said around him. Thanks for all the laughs on my drive to work from Kate. Thanks, Kate. I say don't. Just you, it's too funny. It's so funny. So funny when a swear word comes out and they use it in the right context. Honestly, I feel like their moments So the ones that get you through, like the sleepless nights or the long days.

Yeah, it's so funny. It brings me so much joy. Yeah. Because where else are you going to get that from? No, exactly. You've got to get your kicks somewhere, haven't you? And if it's a swear word from your toddler, I'm fucking having it. Yeah.

Thank you so much, all of you for sending those in. They're wonderful, aren't they? I love them. If you have any comments, thoughts or funny stories, why not get in touch? You can email us hello at secretmanpod.com or with SecretMumPod on TikTok and Instagram. And next it's time for one of your... One of your secrets. Not mine today, one of yours.

Welcome back. We love a secret on The Secret Mum Club. And you are all so good at sharing. So Emma, what have you got for us? Okay. Really miss this. I'm not going to lie. Ready? I've really missed this. Yes.

Okay, this comes from Katie. It says, hey, lovely ladies. I've listened to you since day one and I've wanted to write in so many times, but never quite got round to it. I've got four children, an almost eight-year-old boy, a four-year-old boy, and twin girls who have just turned one. Oh my gosh, this is beautiful. Wow.

We've been in the process of moving since March and it's been so long. Wow. A couple of weeks ago, we had to move back in with my parents so we could complete the sale on our house while waiting for the new one to go through. It's tough. The school run is 45 minutes each way and my parents are very particular about everything. So if anyone's thinking of doing this, I wouldn't recommend it. I think we should have some tips. Just don't.

Don't do it. Fucking avoid it. I just spat on the table then in excitement. Avoid it all costs. Okay. Moving in with you. Nan was exciting at first, but reality has now hit. My eldest keeps getting upset and asking when we're going to the new house.

I try to be honest, but I just don't have the answers he needs. I'd love any advice on how to help the kids through the move and anything that might help with my eldest changing schools too. Thank you again and keep smashing it. Oh, Katie, you've got a lot going on. Katie, this is a lot, honey. Wow, we. Yeah, it's hard.

Move to an Airbnb. Yeah. Get out. Yeah, get hotel. Yeah, that is a hard situation to be in with that. I don't know if I have or I always try and put myself in that position as to what I would do. I don't think I would have moved in with one, not my in-laws. Well, they wouldn't welcome us in anyway because we don't.

That would be random? We don't talk to them. Would I move in with my mum and dad? Probably not. No, I don't think I would be able to do it. I think I would, I maybe would at Airbnb or probably rented. We did get to a point where we were like, do we want to just, yeah, do we rent somewhere and then sell our old house independently, sell the bungalow.

We almost had to do that as well because our buyers wanted to move in really quickly and the house we were moving to wasn't ready. Yes. But it's money, isn't it? We didn't want to spend a load of money on renting. And then also putting our furniture in storage. There was just loads that came with that. Yeah.

And that's exactly I think which stopped us. Yeah. But then ours obviously did speed up, even though after a year it was long and fucking awful. So I feel you're paying. Yeah. I don't think there's, well, me personally, I'm not sure there's much more you can do.

Obviously, it's reassuring them, reassuring him especially and making sure that he's okay. Something that really helped Colby when he was having a bit of tough time when we were talking to him about transitioning schools and going, because he went from a different junior school, didn't he? Because we're an infant junior split, but he went to a different junior school. I just take him on little walks.

So I don't know if that, you and him time. So if there is somebody in the house that can watch the twins and watch your other son to have some time with him. And he is older than the others. So I feel like sometimes not that we're doing it out of spite, but sometimes unintentionally, the bigger ones always just get caught up. They get a bit overlooked. Yeah. And they get caught up in all the grown up stuff because they're the eldest and they want to be seen to be one of the bigger ones, don't they? So I think maybe try taking him for a little walk, talking about his day.

maybe not necessarily talking about the process of the house. Or if you do have any updates and want to talk to him, you can use that time to be like, just so I'd let you know. I kept telling the children about the process of the house so that they didn't have any questions. But taking him for walks and having chats with him and he might then find that time with you a really safe place for him.

Yeah, or in the car. Yeah. I find most conversations happen in the car when you're like one to one with it And they're sitting in the back, but they don't have to look you in the eye. A little coffee date, go to Costa and have a little treat. But once he's, obviously, it becomes a safe thing, doesn't it? So it might not be the first time that he opens up, but maybe the second walk around the block or something like that.

And with regards to transitioning over to school, we just kept reassuring Colby that it was going to be okay, that we were going to make lots of new friends, and it was going to be really fun and exciting to meet new people and how much children really love a new child at school. And we kept telling him about that and making it all seem really, well, it is exciting, not seem exciting, but it is exciting. So just trying to constantly remind him.

Because Colby needs a lot of reassurance. Cobby needs a lot of reminding. So it's just always talking about it in a really positive lie. But we were also very lucky that we did ask the school if we could go for a couple of walk around the schools. So we did take Colby out of his old school. and we'd have just like 20 minutes, half an hour towards the end of the school day to have a walk around.

So like familiarised himself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was really helpful. So I don't know if you have the opportunity to be able to do that to school because I think that really helped.

Yeah. So that on the day Colby knew. He knew where the toilets were. Where he was going. Yeah, all those little things. Toilets. He knew the reception. He knew where to the head teacher was.

The hall was, the dining hall. So everything he knew where everything was. So it wasn't a case of him going into the school and he didn't know anything or needed help because I sometimes think Colby won't ask when now he will because he's a bit bigger but he wouldn't have said oh where's the toilet? He'll just go, I didn't go all day because I couldn't find it.

Yeah, yeah. So that was really helpful. So I don't know if you were able to do that because I think that was something that really helped Coles. Yeah, it's hard. We've done the same with Joseph. Obviously he's a lot younger. He's only just turning four.

But he was so comfortable with his old nursery and it was such a big change for him to then go into a school setting, where it was every day, there was a uniform, it was much more regimented. He's like, why do I have to go every day? Because he didn't used to go to nursery every day. And now he has a transition, which is also new where, like, his nursery pick him up from school and he does wrap around care. And he doesn't like those days at all.

He always cries when nursery pick him up. He actually always cries when I drop him off at school as well. Even though I know he's happy there, and I've got reassurance from the teachers and from the nursery teachers that he's getting on fine and he's happy. But he says stuff like, no one wants to play with me or like nobody. They reassured you that that wasn't the case, didn't they? Yeah. And he said to me the day, like, nobody likes me because nobody knows me. And obviously, like those things are really heartbreaking to hear.

But then when you speak to the teachers, they're like, it's getting on fine. Yeah. So I think it's always going to be hard. You just have to keep bringing it out to them and being like, this is really fun. This is exciting. Like you can, yeah, like you say, make new friends. Yeah. With something we did as well for Colby is we had a worry bear.

I don't know if you've seen them but well there is like ones that are specifically for that but he just had a little bear they're called a I think they're called a fugly bear or I don't know what the brand name of them but they're like a they've got like buttons and big teeth and Colby really loved them and we used to say to him if there's a worry that you have

why don't you write it down and pop it in the mouth of the worry bear just before you go to bed and we used to say to him oh the worry bear will eat up your worry and take it away and obviously we would remove the bit of paper read what the worry was if he didn't want to tell us and then we could try and then talk to him about it without letting him know that we've taken...

Yeah, yeah. So something like that might be... Yeah, he's old enough for that as well, isn't he? Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, to write it down and pop it in. And then you'll be able to... Because sometimes they don't want to talk about it or you might find that he might write one

when, like your least expectant it, like if something's on his mind, he might write it and pop it in there And then you pick it out and he says, I just really don't like broccoli. Cobby used to write quite a lot of stuff and they'd be like, random stuff. Yeah,

like he'd say, I'm really scared to, I know this is TMI, I'm really scared to have a poo at school and he'd like put it in there. And then you'd pick it out and I'd be like, I didn't know. Like that was a like a worry of his. And I'd be said,

and like when he went to school, I'd be like, you can go to the toilet. We worked on like wiping his bottom at home and things like that at home. Yeah. But it wasn't something that I thought he was worried about. Yeah. So it was really helpful, but I think it's just the small wins.

I think it's having some time just you and him, keeping him very aware of the process of the house. I know you probably don't have much information to share with him, but just to keep talking to him about it because he'll, like, I imagine like Colby loves to be included. Like they love to know the information. And make him involve. Like we were saying to Joseph, like,

you can pick out a colour for your new room or like what kind of bed do you want? And so when he got there, he was like, oh, these are all the things that we've talked about. and he was excited about him. In terms of staying at someone's house and pissing them off, there's not much you can do about that. No.

It's a bit like that over Christmas, isn't it? Because you kind of move in, what we do anyway, move in with like either my parents or Stefan's parents and you just take over their house for like a week.

And I feel so bad because our kids are really messy. They're leaving their shit everywhere, their toys everywhere. And I'm trying to like tidy up behind them wherever we go. And obviously everyone's like, oh, don't worry about that. Don't worry about that.

But I'm like, we've just come in and totally shattered your peace. And I can imagine, like if it was my house, that would start to annoy me a bit while but you've got four kids there's not much you can do and if they've offered to have you there it's kind of like well we're here for as long as it takes you signed up for yeah and i'm praying with every bit of my might that your house hurries the fuck up yes but you're doing incredible katy go you and keep us updated yeah if any of them help or if anybody does have any tips for katie

if you've been through this or experienced something like this we love always to hear other people's other people's advice so that we can share it on. So yeah, please do get in touch. You can email us hello at secret mumpod.com or with Secret MumPod on TikTok and Instagram. And we'll be back first thing on Tuesday. And we'll have more of your messages on our next Thursday episode. And we'll see you next time on the Secret Mum Club.