My grandchildren from South Africa have been staying with us over Christmas. My granddaughter, at two and a half, is at that magical stage where she soaks up new words and she talks and sings non-stop, partly to herself, partly for others. In her case, as for many African children, she is bilingual. At home in South Africa, she also speaks an African language called Pedi. But I have to stick to English.
I recite lots of nursery rhymes. She loves to shout them out. 'I like coffee, I like tea, I like sitting on my granny's KNEE'. Her favourite book is a nursery rhyme book, strangely illustrated in black and white by the artist Paula Rego. The rhymes themselves are nonsensical, and don't bear close examination, but she is fascinated. The nursery rhyme she likes best is 'Goosey Goosey Gander' and she gleefully chants the ending with me 'There I met an old man who would not say his prayers so I took him by the left leg and threw him down the STAIRS'.
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