And the best thing about it? It keeps going. Once a kid walks, she walks. But language is ever developing.
Language is an evolution. A word starts out as a grunt until the child is fully saying the exact word years later. Freddie started at about a year calling Ainsley, "Eh." Soon it became, "Aidy." Then it was, "Ainsey." But now he found his L's. So he is saying "AinsLey," with quite an emphasis on the "llll" sound.
Now he's only three. So he still says things funny. He calls Connecticut "Nectut." He doesn't say nothing or nowhere or no one. I say "What do you want for dinner?" "Anyting," he responds when he means nothing.
Ainsley used to use the same word for alligator and elevator. It was something like "eledator." So you really had to pay attention to the context or you could be riding an alligator to the second floor.
Even now, Ainsley is still developing language. She is learning to read and write. It is possibly one of the most incredible things I've ever witnessed. Just 6 months ago she couldn't read anything but her name. And even that was iffy. If she saw a word with an A and a Y in it she might have said it read Ainsley. Two months ago she was asking me to spell everything for her. And now? Well Sunday, she asked Clif and I to babysit her daughters. So she left us a few notes on how to care for them...
It says: Me and my husband are going to a meeting and you are going to babysit.
It reads: Thea Neb To go To Beb at 63 Thea Neb to hav Dinr at 83.
It says: They need to go to bed at 8:30. They need to have dinner at 6:30. (She explained that she had mixed up the times for us.)
It reads: When she my babe cris she can rib in a ???
It says: When she, my baby, cries she can ride in a stroller.
One minute they are totally dependent on you. Completely vulnerable to the world. Being held every moment. The next they're asking you to babysit and being all bossy about dinner and bed times.
Don't blink people.
