Wonders

Like millions of others across the world, I am spending the holidays with family. Claire, now 20.5 months old, is having a great time with her grandparents. Unlike thousands, our parents live 6 miles apart. And I am never surprised by all of the new stuff she learns here. I remember last November she cut her first tooth here, and now she’s here talking in complete sentences. We have absolutely no idea what she’s saying (since I forgot my Rosetta Stone in my other coat and all) but she is saying it in complete sentences. Occasionally I get a “Baba” or “Dada” or even “No no NO NO NO NO NO NO, DADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” But other than that, I really don’t know what she’s saying. Next I bet it’ll start making sense to me like learning a foreign language (really, ingratiatingly slowly!).

This summer my wife and I are going on a Central European vacation with 18 high school students, and we will leave Claire with her grandparents. I wonder what wonders she will pick up during those two weeks when her only influences will be the Nuclear Engineer, the Accountant, the Health Insurance Administrator, and the Draperies Expert.