At 21 months, to be exact, Uri has become my youngest editor.

“What is that,” I asked him once while pointing to a picture on the book we were sharing.

“Moon.” “What is that,” Uri said, tossing back the question to me, as if challenging me to a guessing game.

“Baby.”

“No, sleeping baby,” Uri said to my shock. Apparently, it took me just the first question to lose the game, and realize that our little boy was now into adjectives.

A few weeks back, I was just as surprised when Uri uttered to me his first sentence. Actually, it was a command – “Daddy, sit here.” – to ride his three-wheeled bike that led me to reading a little about how he was doing with his speech. BabyCenter and WhatToExpect, childcare websites that my wife and I have been familiar with since her first pregnancy, say that around this time kids are increasing their word bank to an average of about 20, which increases exponentially by the time they reach three years old. Also, this is the time when they are like parrots as they repeat and mimic almost any and every word you say; no wonder Regina has a hard time telling bedtime stories to the kids lately, as Uri keeps echoing her words!

Kudos to talkative Iva for her daily tireless chattering, Uri is advancing well in his language skills!