Ingrid’s having a real language boom. It feels like she “gets” a new important concept every other day or so. These are not just words for things or actions, but for more complex ideas, and I get the impression that she grasps the concept together with the word.

Each time the pattern is the same. First she learns to understand the word and the concept and when to use them. Then she learns to say them, and does it intensively for a few days. Then the word becomes part of her vocabulary and loses its novelty.

First came the concept of waiting. (That was about a month ago I think.) I would tell her to wait (“wait, let me put away my bag and then I’ll pick you up”) and she would wait rather than continuing to ask to be picked up. Then she started saying the word herself, telling me, in effect, “I’m waiting”. Or rather, “I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting” – because she was always repeating it lots of times very fast, “oota-oota-oota-oota”. Not an ounce of patience!

Then she learned ise (“myself”, meaning “I can / want to do this myself”). That appeared to arrive together with a new desire for independence. Can walk, don’t want to sit in the pushchair! Can brush my teeth myself! Can put on my trousers myself! Can wash the dishes! (No, actually you can’t.)

Recently she also learned veel / mer (“more”). I understand that that’s a word that many babies learn early on, but until recently Ingrid’s been happy with just pointing or saying the name of the thing she wants more of.

The latest thing is the numbers one and two, and palju (“much”, “many”). Now every time she picks up, holds or sees two of something she says “two!”, and sometimes even picks up two things just so she can then say “two!”. I don’t think she has understood “three” yet – things are one, two, or many.