bithe?

I don't quite know what to do about a new made-up word of Benjamin's. I guess I'll have to start a new made-up words list.

Benjamin's new made-up word is "bithe," which would rhyme with "ice" if you had a lisp.

He was saying it while pointing to the tiki torches during dinners on the deck. So does "bithe" mean torch? fire? flame? We kept saying those words to gently correct him.

Then he started using it in the bath, pointing to bubbles, pointing to the bath gate that keeps him away from the faucet and drain. Then I realized he was saying the word with a questioning intonation: bithe?

So I said "bubble bath" and "bath gate" and he seemed satisfied.

So now it seems that "bithe?" means "Tell me what this is called."

My best guess is that it comes from how he hears it when I point to something he knows and ask, "What's this?"

- papa