A "light bulb" moment

So now that Oots (22 months) and Lucky (21 months) have mastered the whole walking thing, each with their own personal variations of skill, their language and comprehension skills are taking off like rockets.

At first, they parroted everything, every noise, every word.  Oots would make us all giggle with his "Please":  He would show all of his teeth in an ingratiating grin, and - with his mouth barely moving - say, "Tcch".  Also, "Blue" was a favorite word, but his pronunciation was worth another giggle: Lips pressed together, again, barely moving, "Bbbbooommmm" but with more of a buzz. It's really impossible to create the pronunciation in writing.

Lucky parroted entire phrases at a run:  "Bye bye see y' soon" (from "Pocoyo" closing scenes); "Habit? Tekoo. Wehcom" (translation:  "Can I have it?  Thank you! You're welcome") and "oh baby y'okay?"

But slowly individual words are becoming clearer and their meanings.  Dancer tells me Oots not only started identifying objects  but putting possession on them:  "MAMA's chair",  "DADDY'S truck".  And learning again at a run - like 10 new words a day. She said, "I'm right here with him and it's moving so fast I can't keep up."

The whole identifying thing.  It's like they have both had that light bulb moment when they realize all that stuff coming out of our mouths has meaning.  It's not just noise we are making, but we are naming objects and actions. 

I was fortunate enough to witness a lightbulb moment and realize it a few days ago.  Sadly, I can remember very few of my own children's moments (what can I say? I'm old) so I have to write this down before the next moment comes and goes.

Two weeks ago Thursday:

Lucky likes to sit in my office with me while I work.  She has her little easy chair and there is a second computer in here to play Super Simple Songs playlist or set up Giggles for Baby for her to play with the keyboard.  On that day, Giggles for Baby was on, one of the "games" where a baby can press the keys on the keyboard and ABCs and 123s pop up and say things like "A is for Apple".   Lucky has a few favorites ("5 chocolate chip cookies! yum!") but today she was just randomly hitting buttons.

"C is for CAT," said Giggles.

She stopped tapping keys.  Walked to the monitor.  Touched the screen lightly with one finger.

"Cat," she said quietly.

"Yeah, that's a cat.  What does a cat say?" I played along, you know, being interactive, workin' the whole animal sounds routine.

"Cat!" she pointed again, this time with more emphasis.

Still attempting to encourage, I responded with, "You're right, that is a cat.  Cat says 'Miaow'!" in my best growly kitty cat imitation, which she usually laughs at, or at least smiles.

"CAT!" she said a third time, decisively, louder, her hand flat on the picture of the cat, and looking back at me as if to say, "No you are not getting it. This is important. I just realized. THIS IS A CAT."

"Cat!" I repeat, watching her. 

"CAAAA-AAAT!!!"  She nearly shouts and all but rolls her eyes at me. But this time, I have indeed gotten it.  No comment from me is required or desired.  So I just nod.

"Cat." One last time, she gently pats the cat on the screen and moves on to the next.