He dashed to the bathroom as soon as he heard the water running, squealing “Bubbles!” He tends to pronounce that final “s” as a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative, though; in other words, he says “bubblesh!” Such a mouthful to describe such a simple sound — admittedly, I didn’t even know what it was until I asked Google — seems an apt illustration for how the Boy in fact uses language. Seeing the bubbles foam in the bathtub, he returned to the back top of the stairs and called, “L! Bubbles! Chodz!” Three little words that communicated a whole cosmos of new understanding and excitement.

At it’s most simple level, the Boy’s utterance was a highly simplified, mixed-language group of sentences. “Hey, L! Dad’s running the bath, and he’s put the bubbles in! Come quick!” But the excitement in his voice added more: “Hey, I’m able to communicate a complete thought!”