A: So, what did you do today?Seems pretty nonsensical, right? Those are just the kind of random comments that kids seem to make all the time.
B: We're lying on the bed!
A: Uh-huh. What did you have for lunch today?
B: I like lying on the bed!
A: Okay, fine. Did you go outside today?
B: Should we keep lying on the bed or get up?
And yet, listening to myself talk with Elliot last week, I was struck by how babyish I sound. It's me who is making the silly comments, not him.
Elliot, on the other hand, has definitely started to understand what conversation is. He makes a few sounds, then waits for us to reply. And then he makes some more sounds. It's clear that he is trying to converse, we just don't know what he's saying.
And there's no reason to think that Elliot is saying inane things like "Do you like lying on the bed?" The only people who make dumb comments like that are adults when they talk to children.
So let's look at that conversation again, with the real names attached:
Elliot: So, what have you been up to recently?
Cameron: We're lying on the bed!
Elliot: Uh-huh. What did you have for lunch today?
Cameron: Do you like lying on the bed?
Elliot: Um, sure. Did you go outside today?
Cameron: Should we keep lying on the bed or get up?
Well, in my opinion, one of the main reasons for having a baby is so that you can baby-talk and no one can criticize you.
ReplyDeleteJust so you know what you're in for, here's a conversation I had with Otis recently:
ReplyDeleteMe: What's that?
Otis: A water pipe.
Me: Really?
O: Yeah. The water goes down the pipe into the ground into the water pump.
[Note here that I didn't even know that, though it made sense once I thought about it.]
Me: Well, and what's that?
O: That's Guy's trilobyte.
Me: His what?
O: His trilobyte. [Lifts his hands in the air, palms up, as if it should be obvious to me.] It's a fossil.
Me: Oh, ok.
O: Let's read this book about gorillas. Baby gorillas are black and they roar and they have gums. They're not scary, but space aliens are scary.
Me: You're right, but some space aliens aren't scary, like E.T.
O: Yeah, E.T. is good. He has a magic finger.
Me: That's true.
O: The New Yorker is for people. It isn't for children.
Me: True.
O: I don't want to sit on these pillows anymore.
Me: Why?
O: I'm thinking too much.
And then, as Van Morrison would say, there's "the inarticulate speech of the heart..."
ReplyDelete