Duck!

I am not kidding, the words are flying out of this kid's mouth! From the second she wakes up, until well after she goes down in her crib at night, it's all pointing and calling everything by name that she knows. "Lampa." "Ljus." "Cava" (that's our dog). "Mamma." "Star." "Baby." "Banana." "Cheese." "Bear." "Nose." "Diaper." "Egg." "Ball." "Book." "Cookie." "Toes." "Eyes." And then it starts all over again.

People who have studied language/linguistics have learned this from the start, but here I am seeing it in action, loud and clear, and right under my nose as my child learns to speak: there is an innate need for humans to communicate. It is as important to her as sleeping or eating. We are, after all, social creatures (yes, I know, some more than others, but that's a different story).

It's feeling more and more like V and I are having actual conversations. This could just mean that it's time for me to go back to work, when I start thinking that I am having conversation with a one-year-old (!), but no--give me some credit. She says these words that she knows, then she turns to me for comment or confirmation. It's incredible: at the age of one year, she is already picking up conversation patterns (what linguists call "turn taking"). It blows me away.

Here is something new as of yesterday: She has learned to say the second syllable of Cava's name. Just one day ago, she called the dog "Caw." Now she says, one hundred percent of the time, "Cava." Well, actually, she says something more like "Caba." That makes sense, doesn't it? Isn't the labiodental sound v hard to make when she doesn't have her front teeth yet? Or am I making this up? I am not exactly sure about the order of acquisition of phonemes. Another thing I need to look up.

At any rate, the enunciation is getting clearer and clearer. Baby is another word that now has two distinct syllables. A week ago, she said it more like the French word, bébé.

Her language is changing so fast at this point, I feel like I am having a hard time keeping up. The words are flying out of her mouth, and if I duck, I'm going to miss something.