Baby talk

My godson Ian is nearing 15 months old. And while I don’t get to see his cute little butt often (he lives 2.5 hours away), I do get to hear him speak almost every day. His mother Bridget and I talk on the phone every day, at least twice. Ian is almost always babbling about in the background.
I’ve had the rare, long distance opportunity of hearing his speech develop over time from his first words of “baba” and “dada” to a very annunciated “Hi Melanie.” It seems that Bridget can basically ask him to say anything and he’ll repeat it. Unless of course he’s being stubborn and disinterested, which is an ability that most 14-month-olds have mastered.
Bridget was telling me just yesterday how much of a genius Ian is. He has now mastered practically all of the animal sounds, a skill that to me seems very advanced. She delighted me with having Ian rehearse his mastery over the phone.
“Ian, what does a lion say?”
“Rooooaarrr,” he responded.
“Ian, what does a cat say?”
“Meeeee-ooooowwww,” he said.
“Ian, I think I’ll cook some chicken for dinner. What do you think,” Bridget asked him?
“Bach-bach-bach-bach,” he said.
He continued to plow through numerous other animal sounds. After a good 5 minutes the performance winded down. Bridget was deservedly pleased. I congratulated her on her genius little boy. After a few more minutes worth of praise, here is what she said next.
“But you know, I’m a little disappointed that he doesn’t know the sound a pig makes.”
One animal. The kid is missing one animal sound from his vocabulary. He knows all the beasts of Noah’s ark, and yet Bridget would be disappointed by one solitary animal.
What else can you expect from a practicing speech therapist?

This blog was written with permission from Bridget and Ian Clark.