January 25, 2016 –Every once in awhile it’s possible, if you’re listening carefully, to get a view of how a very young brain copes with the mysteries of this new language being learned at a whirlwind pace.

It happened just the other day. Elliott came to our house carrying something in his hand that he repeatedly put in his mouth.

Me: What do you have there, Elliott?
Elliott: A zookeeper.
Me: Really? It kind of looks like a kazoo to me.
Elliott: Yes! Zookeeper.

I realized that the “z” sound and the double “oo” and the “k” sound are all fully represented in the words zookeeper and kazoo. And although the order wasn’t quite right, all three  sounds are present and accounted for.

It might cause some confusion on our next trip to the zoo but I have no doubts that he will work it all out. And all too soon the only vestige of the kazoo/zookeeper interplay will be these few paragraphs that his Gaga recorded.