However, I do have one major pet peeve with this, and it’s that it’s very obvious that 90% of the people writing these fics have never had any extended interaction with children since they were that age.

I read a very wonderful series today where Evan Buckley suddenly became a single father to a baby girl (as he very often does) but by the time this baby was 18 months she was speaking in short sentences.

I work in childcare, my full time job right now is taking care of an 18 month old. Her primary form of communication is pointing and screaming. Sure she can say a handful of words mostly consistently, but she’s also calling me a fucker half the time when she’s trying to show me my freckles. Using multiple words for the same thought doesn’t usually start until 22 months at the earliest.

I’m not expecting people to be childcare experts in order to write about children, but I quick “how much can the average _ year old speak “ google search isn’t gonna kill ya.