A Mommy Story

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that a mere four or five months ago, Cordelia had only a tiny handful of words, and we weren’t even sure if she knew they were words, or if she just liked the sounds she was making. I would repeat things to her over and over, trying to coax new words from her lips, looking into her eyes for a hint of recognition at the sound of words like kitty, mommy, sleep, or eat.

Now, just over three weeks before her second birthday, I can’t shut the kid up. She talks nonstop, all the time.

Oh sure, as in months past, she often rambles on incoherently with the same inflection and tone as real words, but lacking any further resemblance. But now, more words and sentences are making their way into her brain, and she rehearses them frequently in front of us.

The amusing part of all of this is that she doesn’t require a conversation partner. She gladly carries on both sides of the conversation, unaware that half of what she is saying should be said by someone else.

Knock, knock!
Who der?

Yes, she’s learning both sides of a knock knock joke. She never waits for me to answer “Who’s there?” Soon my little version of Rain Man will certainly be quoting both sides of Who’s On First.

But it doesn’t stop with jokes. Cordy will also give running commentary about objects she sees:

Oh! Wook!
What izzt?
Itza ball!
Wook!
Where ball?
Der itz is!
Oh! Wook!

The above one-person conversation is carried out in roughly 20 seconds, and repeated over and over again, with no pause to allow you to join in on the conversation.

With a string of phrases like that, I can only assume that either she is simply practicing the phrases she knows, or she has no short-term memory like Dory, and the ball is new to her every 10 seconds. I seriously hope my first assumption is the correct one.

But reaching this point in language development is exciting. She’s now expressing her thoughts with words, instead of the tried-and-true scream. Instead of me playing 20 questions – “What do you want? Are you hungry? Are you tired? Do you need Blue? Do you need a diaper change? Do you want to watch TV? Do you want to run outside?” – she’s now giving her demands clearly and as precise as possible. While she is still ambiguous much of the time, the connection has been made. We are learning her language as much as she is learning ours.

I can also see the frustration on her face now, as she tries to express herself with the limited amount of words she knows. This is the age where receptive language is growing more rapidly than expressive language, meaning they understand many words, but can only express a limited number of them. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to understand so much and yet only have a small set of words to draw from to express yourself. Add in an underdeveloped emotional control, and it suddenly makes sense why tantrums are so common at this age.

While she is developing language in her own way, it is also interesting to see the habits she is picking up from Aaron and me. When she is exasperated with us, she will often exclaim, “Okay! Okay!” just like we exclaim when she’s screaming and we’re trying to hurry to fix whatever is causing the crisis. Because of this, Okay! has also become a stand-in for the word yes.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Cordy’s verbal skills increase in this next year. I remember when a friend’s son turned three, and I remember how well he could communicate at that birthday party, when only a year before that he wasn’t saying anything more than sound effects. The next year will continue the already rapid transition from being a baby who relied on me for everything to being a little girl who will determine her own preferences and do things for herself. By next year, she’ll hopefully let me into her head, telling me stories only her imagination could dream up and sharing every thought she can with me.

I only hope I can keep up with her.

Hello? Would ya quit yakking and give me a push?