We talk to Zara a lot since she was born, pointing out things to her and naming them, speaking out an action, even though she was still a baby.

“Mummy is changing your clothes now.. Put your right hand in, put your left hand in.”
“We are in our room now. See, that’s the light switch. Now press on it. See, the light is turned on.” etc etc.

And then for the first 18months, she went to King’s Wife’s place at least 3 days a week, she has her cousins talking to her. 

Now that she’s older, we still talk to her a lot and we encourage her to describe things to us.
If she says, “Mummy, Mr Blue (is) very happy.”
(Don’t let it end) “Tell mummy why is Mr Blue happy.”
“Because me just feed Mr Blue.”
(Corrected her) “I just fed Mr Blue.”
*repeated “I just fed Mr Blue.”
(Don’t let it end yet) “What did you feed Mr Blue?”
“Me give Mr Blue some macaroni and cheese.”
(Corrected her and make sure she repeated after me. Then continueed to get her to talk) “Who cooked the Macaroni and Cheese for Mr Blue.
Zara replied.
Probed further “What did you put in the macaroni and cheese”
Zara replied.
…… depending on how much time I have and what I’m doing, the conversation can go on, but normally we don’t let her conversation end at the very 1st line.

Nowadays, she talks a lot, and she describes things she’s doing aloud.
“Mummy, you wearing stripey baju (Malay : clothes) today huh?”
“Kakak, you put the cup here? After the sofa wet, Daddy come home scold you then you know.”
*sniffing the air* “Somebody frying fish. Maybe it’s spicy, I don’t know.” etc etc.

Now with Zaria, I don’t have the luxury. Her chatter box jiejie is always nearby. When I’m feeding Zaria and want to talk to her, Zara will come and ask me questions, or just talk to me, especting a response.
When I sing or talk to Zaria, Zara will be near by adding in her comments, or in turn asking me questions, also expecting a response.

Our new maid who is looking after Zaria while I’m working is very quiet (another gold in the mouth type). She walks around with Zaria in her arms queitly, and when she plays with Zaria, it’s just rattling a toy in front of her, without uttering a word.

Zaria doesn’t get as much “talk time” as Zara did and still does. It’s too early to tell, but I wonder if she’ll be talking later than Zara because of this.