Anywhoo, given my language background it's not surprising that I find Madeline's language development a bit fascinating. I'm a dork at heart.
Madeline's always been a big talker. I've felt like she's been easy to understand, properly pronouncing and enunciating. But maybe that's just because I'm her mom and I hear it all the time. And I really mean all the time. She talks all. the. time. Today at breakfast she gave a 3-4 minute monologue about Audrey's eating habits. Frequently Darrin and I look at each other and say, "There's a lot of words coming out of that mouth."
Case in point: We shot these pictures a few weeks ago in our attempt to take the perfect Christmas card picture. She's constantly expressing herself.
But she has a few toddler-isms. She transposes letters in a few words. Magazine is mazagine. Animals are aminals. And my personal favorite, the kitchen sink is frequently referred to as the chicken sink.
The past tense is tricky. Just like the Spanish preterite has many irregulars, so does the past tense in English. I frequently wonder how her little brain processes information and all the irregulars that we throw at her. For example, the past tense is formed regularly by adding -ed to the end of the verb infinitive. (I told you....big dork here.) So talk becomes talked and walk becomes walked. But drink does not become drinked. Some of her common mistakes here: choosed, taked, and eated. Since she's never heard Darrin or I say I already choosed my snack, it really makes me wonder how she internalizes grammatical structures, processes them, and uses them to create her own speech. Fascinating.
Now that Audrey is starting to vocalize more, the miracle of language just strikes me. A baby takes all that input and makes sense of it. And then starts speaking and using the language. It's amazing.
Brings back flashbacks of my undergrad days and good ole Stephen Krashen.
I told you I was a nerd.
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