AS the mother of an 18-month old, I suppose I have to expect the majority of my day to be filled with constant babbling, gobbledygook and dribbling - but that’s enough about work!
I’m not sure what’s worse: not understanding a thing Erin’s saying, or the half way house - some level of intonation, but nothing with any clarity, that can result in no end of wrangling, pointing and frustrated pleas of “gggrrrrr”.
I think I’m expecting to pick Erin out her cot one morning, and instead of just pointing at the cats and shouting “dar” - which I believe to be toddler for cat, or Russian for yes - she’ll say “Morning mummy, where have you been all night?”
I realise words are a gradual thing, just like walking, improving dexterity with their hands, nodding, smiling and all the other things that change so quickly in babies and toddlers, but that doesn’t make me any less befuddled!
In fact, so much does happen in a child’s development that you very quickly forget when and how long it took to happen.
Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, but I can’t remember how long ago it was that Erin didn’t know how to use her spoon properly, or how long she was wobbling around tentatively, holding on to both of my hands, trying desperately to walk on her own.
Do we naturally block out this level of detail as it’s more important to be constantly looking ahead? Helping them to tackle the next challenge or learn a new skill is so important that anything that came before is almost irrelevant?
In a way I wish I’d written things down at every stage so I could refer back and remember what happened and when. I don’t need to know, all I do need to know is that Erin is progressing and changing every day, but it would be a ‘nice to have’.
From now on, I’ll make a note. When “dar” evolves to “cat” and “rar roo” changes to “Charlie” I’ll make sure I keep a log.
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