Ian's speaking Dutch!

While Tamara was away I discovered why we can't understand Ian. He's speaking Dutch. Which actually makes sense. Ian hears English at home, German all around him and has mixed the two into his own language, which just happens to be Dutch. I made this conclusion when Ian recently said the Awpplebaum. This is a half English (apple tree) and half German (apfelbaum) word, which sounds very similar to the Dutch word for apple tree: appel boom.

Actually Ian is putting more and more words together and the fact that he put these two words together in a sort of Dutch way sounds like a move in the right direction. It will be interesting to watch him grow through this stage.

Now the disclaimer since I don't want an entire country mad at me. Yes the Dutch language has many commonalities with English and German and if you know both English and German you can understand some very simple Dutch conversations and read some Dutch signs on the highway. But of course Ian couldn't make up a language as complex as Dutch on his own! :-)