The talking thing

Sylvie has been picking up words a few at a time for a long while now, starting with no (since evolved to "no WAY!"), moving through shoes ("suze") and socks ("ocks") to her favorite, Pax ("Pack-zzzz").

All of a sudden this week, though, things are accelerating. She's using multiple new words every day: hat, cheese, banana, toes, hair, cup, jump, hop... More importantly, she is listening closely to what we say, and trying frequently to repeat us. She has the cadence of the alphabet song down pat, and chimes in on the high note letters (c, g, p, s, v, z - with a final and emphatic "meeeeee!" at the end).

Finally, it's become clear that she's truly understanding a lot of what she hears. On Sunday she was watching Sesame Street while I chugged away on the treadmill. I guess I should say we were both watching Sesame Street - one of those small sacrifices. Nothing motivates a workout like Big Bird. Anyhow, the episode was primarily about Elmo looking for a Salsa dance partner. At the end, he has an epiphany and asks the viewers to be his partner. "Stand up, put out your hands, and dance with Elmo!" he says to the screen. I turned around on the treadmill (danger!) and was surprised to see Sylvie following that little red monster's instructions exactly, bouncing to the beat while reaching out to 'hold Elmo's hands.'

It won't be long now before we're conversing with our little Bean.