It is fascinating to hear the way that Simon's language is developing. He picks up words all the time, some in French and some in English. We're pretty sure that he often chooses between the languages according to which word is easier to pronounce. So we have "car" rather than "voiture", but "pain" rather than "bread". But he understands them in both, so his papa can ask him, "Où est le voiture?" and he'll point, saying, "Car!" and I can say, "Simon, would you like some bread?" and he'll say, "Pain!"
I'm also amazed by how much he understands. Sometimes far more than I expect him to. I have a tendancy to think that he pays attention to intonation and guesses the meaning, rather than going by the meaning of all the words. But his reactions can floor me. This morning he had eaten most of his raisins, and was pushing the others around his tray. So I said, "Simon, if you don't want your raisins then Mummy can eat them for you!" and he immediately started picking raisins up and feeding them to me! Ok, he might not have understood more than "... raisins ... Mummy ... eat" but still!
He likes communication in general, and is going through quite a kissy phase. (Well, he is French, so he needs to learn the correct way to greet people!) He will make kissing noises, and hold his cheek out to be kissed ... which is certainly one way to charm people when you are a cute 19-month old! His parents are not so keen on him doing this with complete strangers at the supermarket!
Simon trying out a local slide near his grandparents' in France:
