Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We had a great time with our grandson on the weekend.  He is bubbling with enthusiasm about language and proud of his "words".  He has an amazing vocabulary for an eighteen month old, and when I brought him a barn he got that word instantly.  He called the cow a giraffe, and the dog a chicken.  I could see the cow's spots looked giraffey, and the dog had a ruff that was yellow.  I explained to him that chickens only had two legs, but he was undeterred.  Though this chicken had four legs and a long tail and a long snout, the coloring trumped the anotomical details.  He struggles pronouncing "grandma" and it comes out "grandem" or something similar.  He got the egg hunt, even though it was just him.  In fact, he found four eggs before we began the hunt.  He bit right into the shell of each.  With encouragement and a bit of guidance he found all eighteen and there they were, tucked in his basket, which he carried mightily despite the heaviness.  He was so exhausted, that after brunch he fell asleep in the carseat and didn't wake up for hours.  It was hard work, but he managed to entertain and delight us alal.