Like parents across the nation and -- I assume -- around the world, Alastair and I have spent a substantial amount of time teaching our kiddos the sounds that various animals make. Why do we all do this? I mean, seriously, could anything be *less* useful in life than knowing that a duck says quack quack quack, a horse says neigh, a cow says moo, etc.? Even if you live on a farm, this is not terribly relevant information. What does a cow eat, what do I do if my cow is sick, what does a cow get on the open market these days -- these are all potentially helpful things to know. But what a cow says? I'll bet farmers almost never get asked that question.
Nevertheless, our children's books are full of animals, and "baaa" is easier to pronounce than, say, "refrigerator," so, in spite of the lack of practical applications, Elsa and Clio are really getting to know their animal sounds. They've been doing "moo" for a while now, though it's more like "mmmm." (Which, if you think about it, is more what a cow actually sounds like. As a farmer will tell you.) Elsa is really good at "Woof woof woof," always said with head bobbing in time. (Sometimes she just bobs her head and skips the woof-woof-woof altogether.) Clio is great at sheep ("baaaa" with the tongue stuck out). Both girls are good at snake (shshshhhh), and if you show them a monkey or gorilla, they'll say "hoo hoo" and hit their chests with their hands.
Clio has an especially enterprising approach to all this nonsense. If she doesn't know what sound a particular animal makes, or is feeling sillier than usual, she'll just make something up. If you go through a book with her, for each animal she'll do either a squeal or a squawk, or a cute little falsetto "ba ba ba!" -- a different sound for each animal, it just has nothing to do with what that animal actually says. I wonder if maybe she's doing animal sounds in other languages. You know, like how in Spanish a dog says "gau gau!" and French it says "fromage! fromage!" or whatever.
The animal sound thing is fun, but I also can't help feeling a little like I'm asking the girls to perform stupid human tricks when I prompt them. It's a lot more interesting now that they're just starting to acquire some actual words. Both of them say "nana" to mean either banana or food in general (a slight tonal shift changes the meaning, like in Chinese), say "dada" for daddy, and call the cat something approximating "gaa." Elsa has also recently picked up car ("Caw!") and fish ("shh"). I'm not sure why these two words "stuck" over others -- we use the word "book" probably ten times as much as "car" and definitely more than "fish" and she's still not saying it -- but for whatever reason, they did. One Elsa's favorite things to do now is stand at the front window and point at the cars parked on the street, going "caw! caw! caw!" To Clio's credit, she also sometimes says car ("cah!") when Elsa says it, but I'm not 100% convinced she knows what it means. Her real specialty is comprehension. She can point to her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and feet when you say the words. And I can say "Clio, go into the kitchen and get your cup" or "Clio, come help me do my taxes," and she totally gets it.
As someone who plays with words and language for a living, I'm loving the fact that we're starting to get into the whole language acquisition phase of things. You really don't realize how fascinating and amazing it is until you start to see it firsthand. And, of course, everything is more fascinating and amazing when it's being done by your own children. I may feel quite differently once they learn to say things like "no" and "I want a Bratz doll" and "Can I borrow the car?" But for now, it's a hoot. (aka "what an owl says.")
