Yakkity Yak

Watching your child develop is an undescribeably precious thing...and fun. Even more so because the growth isn't gradual as I had assumed they were, they come suddenly when you least expect it...just wondrous for impatient me.

Pig has been cooing like a morning dove for awhile now and from time to time has made some strange pterodactyl noises. Then boom! Babbling. Usually it's alot of "ack ack ack" with some "goo goo goo" interspersed. But occasionally she'll say something in a very conversational way. For instance today she pulled her binkie out of her mouth then said "eh bah goo" and stuffed the binkie back in. And it was just "eh bah goo" not "eh bah goo?" Yes I know it's gibberish but I'm sure in her mind she felt like she just commented on something. Granted our response was "eh?" but I began marveling at how many hundreds of new things she must be picking up on a daily basis that we aren't even aware of. Every day the vision sharpens, coordination improves, in addition she learns that the orange giraffe toy on her bouncy chair is best yanked off the toy bar by pulling on it with both hands. This knowledge is stored away for the next time.

It's most reassuring. I was starting to wonder if we have enough toys for Pig. See, when it comes to toys, I belong to the less is more school of thought. Emo and I didn't have many toys growing up, a few stuffed animals and two cabbage patch dolls and that was it. But I didn't feel deprived at all. My mother just understood that kids will learn to entertain themselves with whatever's available to them and she wanted us to pick up a book instead of an instant gratification toy. And for that I am grateful. For a kid who grew up in a Korean speaking household, the English I speak today was essentially self taught, reading at home helped me build up the vocabulary I needed to keep up in school. I think it helped foster a feeling of independence and confidence when it came to learning. Other than for math and science, I couldn't ask my parents for help with my homework. Didn't think anything of it at the time. I assumed that all kids had the same experience. It was until recently I started thinking that it'd be odd that there would be no communication gaps with my child.

Actually, I should clarify. My parents never had any difficulty understanding my sister and I. They just seemed to know what we were trying to convey even while we sometimes struggled to translate English into Korean. First of all, their English is alot better than they'll lead you to believe. Second of all, people just adapt wonderfully. Don't know a word? Make one up. We had our own family language. It probably also helps that you're unlikely to have a really original thought. At some point, your parental units prob'ly thought it too.

So back to toys. I've been seeing all these kids with tons and tons of toys...marketed as necessary for early learning and development. So I started wondering if I was depriving Pig. That perhaps this was some form of middle class guilt of mine. But then, "eh bah goo." It was like Pig's way of saying, "yeah don't sweat it. It's all good." Anyway, I think the best toy we can give Pig is a sibling...in the meantime the orange giraffe will have to do.