I love the babies. Even the one who is 10 years old. But the most fun are the ones just learning to communicate.
19-month-old Lucky relating a conversation, an argument it seems, between "Mama" and "Rora", gestulating, turning from side to side, facial expressions, full on drama:
"Rora, Mama, Daddy, bitabitabita ahoppa DOWN... Rora Mama MAMA RORA animita baortisor OH NO atipado..." and so it goes.
Enunciating her words - those words in her own language - so carefully. I can hear bits and pieces of words and phrases that I know she has overheard. She doesn't know what they mean, not really, but she has heard them enough to try to repeat them.
At the end of the story, she looks up expectantly, waiting for ... what? Applause? Comments? Not sure. But I responded, wide-eyed, and interested, "And then what?" only to receive a slightly disparaging look indicating that I have somehow missed the point.
Just a couple of short months ago, I could respond with a breathless, "Really?!?" to which she would reply, firmly, "Yeth!" It would make me laugh, and she was sure I was in complete agreement with her. Now that her stories have gotten more complex, she quietly demands more understanding, and is frustrated that I don't understand all of her attempts at language.
I know I will love communicating with her, and knowing what she wants, and hearing her stories. But I know I'm going to miss that innocent baby language that is all her own.
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