Crib Talk

I really should have showed up to class more often when I took linguistics because I am just now learning about this phenomenon called crib talk.

Penny has been doing this for as long as she's been talking, but I didn't know it had a name. Her crib talk has (obviously) gotten more complex as her speech has gotten more complex. What fascinates me is listening to her work out past events, like after a day at Tray's mom and dad's farm she'll say stuff like, "horse. feed the horse. gunnar the horse. feed gunnar. ride the horse. ride gunnar. pat pat. go 'side. get warm" It's like a running commentary of what she did all day. But not the whole day - just bits and pieces. And it will be mixed in with other stuff like snatches of songs and books she's had read to her. She doesn't sing yet (though I can't wait!) but she will say song lyrics. Last night she "sang" ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies...pocket full of posies...posies. And then, 'pider. up 'pider. rain. wash a 'pider out. out came the sun and dried the rain.

I love listening to her do this. It's so neat. I used to think it was weird because we'd be laying there and she's obviously not talking to me, but then not really talking to anyone in particular. She's just talking. I mean, I didn't really think it was odd behavior or anything; it seemed to me to be a verbalization of what our dreams do for us, which is to organize all the random bits of information we take in during the day. Nor did I think it was unusual behavior; I just sort of assumed all kids did that, but I hadn't previously been aware there was a name for it. Crib talk. It's pretty cool.