Acquisition

I've never had the opportunity to witness, up close and as an adult, the process of language acquisition. Now, I do vaguely remember my brothers learning to talk, and I've had periodic exposure to nieces/nephews/friend's children going though the process; but never have I been in the nitty, gritty, trench-warfare that is learning to use language.

It really is a marvelous thing.

I've been witnessing, the past several weeks, Abby's blossoming from a non-verbal child to the beginning of a verbal one.

"Abby, what do you want?"

"Up!"

"Abby, what do you want?"

"Bubbles!" (pronounced buh-boo)

"Abby, are you hungry?"

"Ah!" (affirmative)

"Abby, clean up that mess!"

::frustrated sigh and starts cleaning up the toys she just meticulously threw all over the floor::

It's a good, good feeling to have this simple report with my child. It's amazing hearing the new things she says/mimics/does everyday.

Driving in the car near the hospital, an ambulance goes by. A perfectly whistled pseudo-siren comes from the blond, curly-headed munchkin in the backseat. We drive a little further, and same said child starts humming the first few bars of "Slippery Fish" over and over.

It was hard not to cry.