Baby Talk

A long time ago I read a novel about a woman living on some kind of station in Australia, I can't remember the storyline. So called Epic love story. The woman  marries the owner of said station but doesn't love him. She has a couple of babies. She's a feeble mother, implied as such because she doesn't love her husband. Two daughters, one severely mentally challenged and the other brilliant. And the brilliant baby could speak in sentences by the time she was one. And I thought, I'm going to stop reading this author. The storylines are just all kinds of whack... especially the bit about the talking infant.

So, Tilly spoke early and she spoke well. Obviously she wasn't speaking sentences at barely one like in the novels. But she has always been linguistically very advanced. So how about Evie? Well, this baby has been talking (saying words) since she was 6 months old. And I have reliable witnesses to back me up. At six months she was resting on a sofa in church and wanted me to pull her up and yelled out "Mummy!!" She has been saying words ever since. But she also has sharp ears and can repeat words at random. When she was 8 months old we were in a cab going somewhere and I looked at the clock and said, "Oh, we're too late!" And she looked at me and said, "Do Lay". I didn't say anything but then Tilly looked at me and said, "Mummy Evie just said Too late!" The other day in the park she was 'talking' and two friends looked at her and said 'Did you just say pussycat?' Obviously she doesn't know she's saying pussy cat (or maybe she does). However, the talking is just constant with this girl. Even more so than Tilly at this age. She speaks in a continuous chatter and throws the odd actual word in there.

This morning at breakfast she was eating her porridge and got to that point where she is just ready to throw it because she's had enough. "No no Evie, no throwing." So she looked at me and said, Get up! Hahaha. And waggled her two thumbs to indicate she'd finished. That's sign language and about the only thing I've taught her thus far because I'm far too lazy for it this time round. And I can't remember any of the things I taught Tills. Also, Tilly spoke the important words early enough for me not to have to rely on it, so my signing is pretty poor.

There you have it. A talking nearly one year old. Obviously most of it is just gibberish. But I'm sure to her it's not gibberish at all and she really has a lot to say... I love talking to her. And when you talk back to her about probably a completely different topic to what is going on in her head, she completely delights in it. Tilly often translates for her. "Mum, Evie was saying this......"