So Much Language

Storm is speaking. A lot. All the time. In three languages. His vocabulary has continued its rapid growth, and his grammar is emerging. He regularly uses 3, 4 or 5 word utterances, and he repeats sentences like it’s his full-time job.

Some current favorites of mine:

“Mor bære dig” Mommy carry you . This is his request to be carried. He doesn’t get the pronouns right yet, and no wonder, really, pronouns are tricky. I should know, I wrote a dissertation about them. Also, Storm’s regular input in both Danish and Dutch comes from only one speaker of each, and that speaker is likely to refer to themselves as ‘Mor’ or ‘Papa’, rather than I/me.

“Storm tage den på!” Storm put it on. He has a newfound desire for independence in putting on clothes. Though most items of clothing require motor skills that are currently far beyond where he is at. Practice makes perfect!

“Du klarede det!” You did it! He says this whenever he or anyone else succeeds in doing something that requires focus. Mostly putting Duplo blocks on top of each other.

Some months ago, he was really into constructing endless variations on things he wanted us to ask google.

“Hvad siger en brandbil?” What is the sound of a firetruck?
“Hvad siger en stor brandbilen?” What is the sound of a big the firetruck?
“Hvad siger en blå brandbilen?” What is the sound of a blue the firetruck?
“Hvad siger to brandbiler?” What is the sound of two firetrucks?

He learned the colors a couple of months ago, but struggled to understand why a blue or a small firetruck wouldn’t make a different sound from just any old firetruck. And maybe they do! But google doesn’t know, much to Storm’s frustration. Nevertheless, he persists… hopefully, he is working on his definiteness marking at the same time…

Recently, the majority of Storm’s requests are for things he wants us to draw. He prefers to draw outside (‘tegne udenfor!’, ‘buiten tekenen!’ draw outside), with chalk. All the sidewalks near our house are covered in drawings, and we have to wash so many pairs of pants because he often ends up sitting and crawling on his drawings. He loves to have one or both of us nearby when he is drawing, such that he can intermittently demand ‘tegne brandbil, Mor!’, draw firetruck, mom, or ‘politieauto tekenen, Papa!’, draw police car, dad.

Another recent addition to Storm’s language-related skillset is singing. It seems that it was from one day to the next that he learned to sing. Like, one day, he would recite words from a song without any real melody, and the next, he was rattling off long phrases with clearly recognizable melodies. At this point, he just absorbs music. I sing him a new song, and after hearing it only a few times, he will surprise me by spontaneously singing it in the middle of playing with his blocks. And favorite songs, like Itsy Bitsy Spider, he now accompanies with rhythmic drumming. Preferably with a spoon on the dining table or on his breakfast at 7am in the morning, while singing/shouting at the top of his lungs. I’m so sorry for our upstairs neighbor, but Storm’s singing is one of our favorite new skills.

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