Day 622 - Blah Gah Goob Bah! HAHA!

I've been talking quite a bit about Emma's entrance into the world of verbal gossip and ridicule, but I haven't mentioned too much about our little boy, Andrew. Andrew isn't progressing at the same rate as Emma with the speech. Emma has a larger vocabulary, and although she doesn't say too much, when she does speak actual words are spoken. Conversely, Andrew has a smaller vocabulary, but you can't keep his mouth shut from yammering away.

It might be a blessing in disguise that Andrew doesn't say too many actual words because from day to night this kid gives his vocal cords as much a workout as a 50 year old man undergoing his first colonoscopy. Andrew loves to scream, laugh, babble, and make new and odd sounds with his mouth. He also likes to make new and odd sounds with his butt, but that's another blog entry.

Whereas Andrew has always been ahead with the motor skills, Andrew falls a month or two behind Emma with speech and language. Emma is probably a little bit behind herself compared to other toddlers, but twins tend to lag behind with language development. This can be caused by a variety of things: twins sometimes develop their own special language which hinders actual speech; parents of twins are often overwhelmed and tend to not converse with their children as much (but isn't that what television is for?); many twins are born premature.

This isn't to say Andrew is a Forrest Gump. Andrew can and will say words, but only on his own terms. Lisa and I can tell Emma to repeat certain words, and she will. But if we do that to Andrew, he'll just stare at us like the idiots we are and trot off to get his head stuck in a bucket. Yet there are times when we are driving, and Andrew will point outside and shout "CAR!" over and over and over again. And since we live in Los Angeles and are often at a stand-still on the freeways, Andrew will shout "SAME CAR!" over and over again.

I'm sure in a month or two when Andrew is around 22 or 23 months year old, he will be further down the road on his way to verbal elegance. I find this language stage in childhood development to be an extremely interesting and fun time. It creeps up on you rather slow, but once it starts, it never stops and just goes faster and faster -- much like an elephant in heat.