"Me, too"

I'm taking a linguistics class this semester and we recently watched a film over language and gender, and the difference in conversational styles and rituals among boys and girls. Girls, for instance, seek for connections and similarities in conversation, while boys seem to be in competition with each other. To demonstrate this, the video showed pairs of boys and girls at different ages just talking to each other. The five year old boys on the play ground were very animated about how high each one could throw a ball, and each one would "one-up" the previous speaker. The five year old girls at daycare sat very close to each other at a table, constantly looking at each others' eyes, and touching hands, etc. One of the girls told her friend that her daddy wore contact lenses. Her friend replied that her babysitter also wore contact lenses. The first girl took a moment to process the statement, and then very happily replied, "The same?".

It's a wonderful thing to be around an almost two year old and witness first hand the development of speech, and the acquisition of language. It is even more exciting for me, when my almost two year old provides validation for what I am learning in class, and I am able to perceive language in an entirely new fashion. So, the story is this:

Ruby and I were outside on the patio playing the other day when some birds started singing. She looks at me, taps her ear, and says, "I hear a bird?". I reply, "You hear a bird? I hear a bird, too." She looks at me and smiles, and says, "me, too."

How precious is that?