Phoebe in Corfu this afternoon
Oh, we have been missing our little granddaughter Phoebe. While we were away on The Furness Peninsula, she was on the island of Corfu in Greece. Yesterday, she even went on a trip to Albania - somewhere I have never been. It's very close to Corfu - just across The Straits of Corfu, sometimes known as The Corfu Channel. She will be back in Merrie Olde Englande on Tuesday.
Phoebe's language skills improve with each passing day so after twelve days of not seeing her we are expecting to be surprised. Beforehand it was mostly single words like "dog", "cat"", "mama" and "dada". She also said "Out!" when wanting out of her high chair and "Yes!" with a nodding head when asked, "Phoebe, would you like a yoghurt?"
It has been such a delight to observe the development of her communication skills but I feel some regret that, try as I might, I just cannot remember the evolution of my own children's speech. It's like it just happened.
However, I do remember a journey back from Shirley's parents' farm in Lincolnshire. Ian was abut eighteen months old and he started to "sing" in the back of the car - mouthing the notes of " Frère Jacques" which was the tune that his plastic duck played when you pulled the string in his cot. Ian had heard it many times. Shirley and I just looked at each other. It was a real milestone in his development.
We won't see Phoebe till Wednesday. I wonder if she will remember us. Maybe she will talk about her trip to Albania or show keenness to discuss the two comedians we have at the top of the British government now - Truss and Kwarteng. Sounds like a demolition company. Oh Lord, save our souls!
The thing that fascinates me about little kids is that they know far more than you think.
ReplyDeleteI share that view.
DeleteShe will be so happy to see her grandma and grandpa. Jack came home very late last night, 1130pm, and couldn't stop hugging his poppa.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that Jack survived B.C..
DeleteI don't remember my own children's language learning either, except the third child learned to talk fast so as to be able to get a word in and still talks fast, telling others they need to listen faster when they ask her to slow down.
ReplyDeleteShe's like a fast flowing River.
DeleteI am sure she will have lots to say about her experience of visiting Albania. It is a very interesting country by all accounts.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what she will have to say about the archaeology at Shamogjilë.
DeleteOur most recent grandson is nearly 1 year old and I can't wait to be able to have chats with him.
ReplyDeleteI occasionally wrote down things that my own children said when small......one of these was. " giggle bill dum ploh in adoo" . It meant " the little boy jumped splash in the water". This son ended up having speech therapy aged 3 as only myself and his older brother could understand him.....huge vocabulary but he changed all the letters round!
At first little children don't know the "rules" so they break them willy nilly. My daughter used to say "willn't" for "won't".
DeleteTruss and Kwarteng the Pound destroyers.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the opposite of a superheroes film.
DeletePhoebe would probably do a better job running the country than the two comedians, as you call them. Her communication skills seem to be enough to produce a sensible speech - more sensible than what B.J. managed, anyway.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum says that I was saying the names of dinosaurs such as archaeopterix and pteranodon before I said Mama or Papa. And once I mastered the art of talking, I never stopped. Ask O.K., he can confirm the latter.
I bet O.K. is sometimes tempted to put a sock in your mouth.
DeleteHe has made a rhyme about my chattiness. It won't make sense to you but it goes:
Delete"Wie von hundert Fröschle
läuft des Schlabbergöschle"
and he sings it to the tune of a well-known children's fun song.
Something about a Schlabbergöschle runs like a hundred frogs but I can't find out what a Schlabbergöschle is!
DeleteA Schlabbergöschle is Swabian dialect for a babblegob.
DeleteOf course Phoebe will remember you! And she will be talking soon, proper sentences, all the joy of watching a child grow up. When my oldest grandchild Tom was about 18 months, he started to read everything around him, from cafe signs to what was written on lorries.
ReplyDeleteThere are subtle differences in the ways that individual children develop.
DeleteAh. So there is a God! I have to admit that until a week or so ago I din't realise that Corfu was so far up the coast as to be level with Albania.
ReplyDeleteCorfu can often be so green. I have holidayed there three times. Not only is there a God - there's a Devil too - hence Truss and Kwarteng Ltd. Very limited.
DeletePerhaps Phoebe will astound you with the Greek and Albanian words she's learned this week!
ReplyDeleteWhen we went to Corfu, many years ago, Albania was definitely a no-go area, much as we would have liked to visit it.
Nowadays it is a standard day trip for visitors to Corfu.
DeleteAh, little Phoebe. The princess. Such a beautiful girl!
ReplyDeleteApparently she was singing an aria from an opera by Puccini.
DeleteIt is amazing just how much children soak up at that age. Not only have they got to contend with standing and walking without falling flat on their face, but they also grapple with words and what they mean. It is the best time to teach them to be bilingual too. We always intended to bring Kay up speaking German fluently, but as it was not our mother tongue, we lapsed and she had to learn it at school when she was 12. Not quite the same. Maybe Phoebe will come back speaking Greek or reciting On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at.
ReplyDeleteI must teach her that beautiful song. After all she is a Yorkshire lass.
DeleteWhat a delightful child she is. A perfect antidote to an increasingly crazy world.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Christina. She has brought us so much unexpected joy.
DeleteI have found that children are very much in the present so she will just be delighted to see her grandparents again.
ReplyDeleteI hope she is more delighted to see Grandpa than Grandma.
DeleteOf course she will remember you! I'm jealous of her being in Corfu. I still haven't made it there but it's on my list.
ReplyDeleteI hope you make it to Corfu Steve but Greece has many wonderful islands to explore.
DeleteOf course, she will remember you and be so happy to see you both. You have to watch your language around the little ones as they will pick up all the words you don't want them to and repeat them at the wrong times!
ReplyDeleteI know you will find this difficult to understand Ellen but occasionally I swear so I shall take your warning on board.
DeleteWhenever I announced that I had to pay tribute to my peristalsis, granddaughter (eight) smiled: "Yes, grandpa, you just go and have a poo. Good luck."
ReplyDeleteNever would she repeat my very words.
The other day, though, she told how surprised her teacher had been when she announced she had to pay tribute to her peristalsis.
And now imagine Phoebe asking you tomorrow: "Grandpa, what is an endoplasmatic reticulum?"
Enjoy!
That's easy. I will just tell her it is a long extinct dinosaur.
DeleteHa ha ha ...
Delete