Word Associations

Each baby is born with over 100 billion brain cells, or neurons. That is 10 times the number of stars in the Milky Way. As a newborn develops, each neuron forms thousands of connections. By age three, a child's brain has formed about 1,000 trillion connections! Although the neural connections in my 22-month-old daughter, Claire's brain are invisible to me, I see indicators of new ones forming each day. As Claire learns words for the objects and concepts in her world, she begins to associate them with other objects and concepts.

For instance, Claire learned the round, green thing used in tennis is called a "ball". She then saw an orange and perceived it was round, albeit a different color. She called it a "ball", at first pronouncing it "a MAWooo!!!". Next, she saw other tasty fruits were round, as well, and, simultaneously perfecting her "B" sound, joyfully proclaimed them to be "a BAWooo!!!". Grapes, blueberries, grapefruits ... all balls. A soap bubble and a photo of planet earth became "a BAWooo!!!" You get the picture.

I worry that Claire's ability to pronounce new words is being hindered by her strong attachment to pacifiers. Claire even made up a name for her pacies very early on: "a YAya!!!". For the longest time, I thought this was her name for me, as she did not say "mama". Imagine my chagrin when I found out that, in my daughter's affections, I came second to a small, chewy hunk of plastic. Although at one time she refused to even exist without a pacie, Claire and I have since worked out a compromise. When she awakens in the morning, we have "The Ritual of the Pacie". I hold Claire near her crib, saying "night night, yaya" (as many times as necessary). Claire then removes her pacie from her mouth and throws it into the crib, where I "tuck it in" with a blanket. (Don't judge me.) After this ceremony, she asks for her pacie ... oh, only about 1,000 trillion times a day.

It is amazing to watch her form associations between very different things. For instance, Claire learned a feathery bird that walks around a barnyard is a "chicken" that says "bock bock". She can't say "chicken" yet, so she refers to each as "aBOCKbock!!!" One night, I baked chicken and offered her some. She said, "aBOCKbock!!!" and, with no compunction whatsoever, ate it up. A few days later, she saw a black, feathery thing squawking in a tree, called the crow "aBOCKbock!!!" and watched it fly away. A few days after that, she saw a house fly zooming around the kitchen and said, "aBOCKbock!". Now, I know I'm her mom, but that's pretty impressive. (Her application to Mensa is almost complete.)

Sometimes, Claire's baby language is endearing and funny. Once, when she unexpectedly barged into my bathroom, I asked her, "Where did you come from?" Evidently remembering her great-grandmother's catechism lessons, she said "God" (in her case "GAAaah!!!").

Claire is the type of toddler who believes in a backup plan. She secretly hid pacies all over the house, leaving me to think she had only two left. After the "Ritual of the Pacie", she would furtively and nonchalantly toddle up to one of her stashes, coming out moments later with a pacie I hadn't seen in weeks. The first time, I was surprised, but I figured I had just missed one. After the tenth time, finally exasperated, I rhetorically asked her, "Where did all these yayas come from?!"

"GAAaah!!!"