Little Linguist

Since the last time I spoke of Thevy's speech, she's advanced quite a bit. She's still a couple months shy of turning two and I bet she speaks better than many, if not most, her age. I'm loving it that we're able to communicate better more and more. Her sentences are very simplistic and she doesn't always pronounce things perfectly, but she's getting there!

If you ask her to say a phrase, it may come out a bit in gibberish at times. But if you ask her to say each word one at a time, it's almost crystal clear. She still says things that only I (or her father) understand. Like "banana". For the longest time she's called it "ahmi". I have NO idea why. That was sort of a multi-purpose word at first, I guess. I think it referred to "apple" and "Elmo" once upon a time. Now she's finally started saying "mana", which sounds a lot closer to "banana" than "ahmi". lol

She sings a lot of songs and even makes up her own words. Like "Where is Thumbkin?" becomes "Where is Mommy?" or "Where is Daddy?". And she replies with "Here I is" or "Here it is" (can't tell which she's saying). hehe. I sometimes hear her asking the questions I ask her and then answering them herself. For example, whiling looking at a book, she asked where a certain animal was, then proceeded to point to it and answer, "Right there!"

And I was sort of surprised while I was driving in the car and she began singing along with one of my CDs. Now, I don't often have the car, nor do I listen to music all that much. So, if anything, I think Thevy may have heard that CD maybe once or twice prior. So, Carly Simon's "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" came on and I was singing it. All of a sudden, during the chorus, Thevy joins in! I was amazed because I had no clue she knew it! So cute. :)

Thevy can also recite her ABC's/sing the "Alphabet Song". She counts from 1 to 10 and says random numbers from 11 to 20. And Thevy's not as multilingual as I'd like her to be, but she's still got time! If I count in Spanish, she will say some of the numbers with me. I can ask her a lot of body parts in Spanish and she can point them out. Sometimes, Thevy will attempt to say the Arabic alphabet. Every now and again I will say them to her. Although I am not teaching her the language, I want her to be accustomed to the sounds of the language. Finally, out of the blue, Thevy will count to five in Cambodian (though she skips number 4!).

I'm hoping that Thevy will grow up a polyglot. =)