look who's talking NOW - by Theo

"All gone! Finished! NOW."
"Mama viene. NOW."
"Mas leche. NOW."
"Carry cuddle! NOW."
"Daddy up! NOW."
"Mas pan! NOW."



Rosie is rather imperative. It's unsurprising as regardless of the language most of the sentences we model for her are imperatives - "come here", "pon lo aqui", "hold my hand". So naturally as she begins to string sentences together from individual words, they are often orders, made with a sense of impatience and awareness that others may not have the same priorities that she clearly gets from her father.

She does descriptions as well, often related to clothing ("slippers off", "lleva gafas", "Rosie tired/cansada") and even has a few anecdotes that, with prompting from Kate, she can recount. One goes like this:

Kate: Rudy (a fellow toddler) tried to cuddle you.
Rosie: Mummy say "No kick!"

It's all astoundingly endearing (she had the museum attendant enraptured by her ability to say "cardie on" at the M Shed) and totally fascinating the way Rosie is acquiring and structuring language. Naturally her English is far more developed than her Spanish; though I suspect this is in part due to the fact she is trying to use verb phrases which is far easier in English ("he/she" form aside, the present tense and imperative are the same) than in Spanish, with its multiple endings and irregularities. For example she has been experimenting with the verb "ser" (to be): sometimes she gets it right by saying (to Kate) "es Papa!" ("it's Dad!"). But when she tells me "soy Papa", that's the wrong form - it's what I would say to her: Rosie needs to say "eres Papa". OK, the English version of this (am/are/is) wouldn't be much easier, but most English verbs don't change so dramatically.

NO! - by Theo

"No! No! NOOOOOO!"

Yes, Rosie has finally learnt the word "No!" She could of course express a negative opinion beforehand, but up until Friday this was usually done by shaking her head and arms and saying "da da da", which was, frankly, endearingly cute.

There is nothing cute about "No". In fact it is a hideous word. Sadly, of course, it's a very important one, in both English and Spanish. In fact it's probably more important in Spanish, as it's just put in front of the verb for a negative (whereas English puts "not" after) and is used as a general, often affirmative, question (E.g. "Te gusta el parque, no?" - you like the park, don't you?) So, we definitely brought this one on our own heads.

We are now both thinking of as many ways as possible to get "yes" into our sentences.

"The Pasty" - by Theo

The photo, I feel speaks for itself. It was Rosie's first ever pasty and thus, as far as she was concerned, 'the' pasty.

Rosie has, quite hilariously, discovered the definite article. "The", accompanying practically every noun, English or Spanish, is now a common feature of Rosie's burgeoning vocabulary. It also does strange things to the following word, making the vowel longer and drawn out, and thus increasing the comedy value. So whereas before she would have just pointed at her bed and chirped out a clipped, terse, short-voweled "Cot" (or "Cuna") now it becomes a plaintive, urgent, portentous "THE CO-OT!" In this particular instance she is of course grammatically correct, but versions such as "The Papa" or "The Fork" or even "The Mano" ("no, Rosie, tienes que decir 'La Mano'") are also regularly produced.

Nothing, though, is quite so hilarious as when she wails, like one in terror of a dreaded and yet inevitable doom, "The Poo!"

Rosie's talk - by Theo (chanelling Pat Hutchins)

Rosie the toddler went for a walk.

She walked through the "parque". Around the "agua". Over the "ball". Past the "doggle-oggle". Through the "door". Under the "bees" and got back in time to shout "dame!"

Rosie's speech is coming along rapidly, in both English and Spanish, from maybe only 10 words at the beginning of July to more than 50 now. She still expresses herself in single words, which are not always used correctly, as can be seen in this video from the morning we left Madrid.

"Dame" ("give me" in Spanish) gets used as a general expression of desire (e.g. "open", "take", "lift") rather than its more specific meaning. Meanwhile, pretty much anything with floppy ears and a tail is a "doggle-oggle" or a "oof-oof" (except for cats which are "miaow-miaows"). It's interesting which language she chooses - for example she says "agua" rather than "water" and "mas" rather than "more" but "please" rather than "por fa'" and "glasses" rather than "gafas". Some words could go either way - "yo-go" could just as easily be "yoghurt" as "yogur". Other words only get used in certain situations - for example, when pretending to answer the phone Rosie will say "si, si, si" but otherwise never comes out with the Spanish for "yes". There doesn't seem to be a pattern however, and so far she hasn't learned many equivalent words in both languages (except Mama/Mummy; Papa/Daddy and usefully, pi-pi/wee-wee and poo-poo/ka-ka). It's funny what words she picks up though - she says "cool" a lot, something she obviously gets from Kate and I, while earlier this evening she clearly articulated something that she definitely hadn't heard us say (ahem): "f*ck it!"