Elly versus baby language.

Now that the super-annoying "Elly Patterson: Failed Monogamy Cop" arc has run its course, I'd like to talk about another area in which her inability to see how her behaviour affects those around her makes her life worse. As I've said before, Elly seems to have spent most of Lizzie's formative years crippled by the fear that her having to be stuck minding the children would inevitably lead to her devolving into a babbling idiot who could only speak baby talk. What seems to have never occurred to her is that she might be part of the problem. It seems to me that most of why Lizzie and April used baby talk longer than they should is because they thought that they had to. Unlike Elly or Lynn, I can see a scenario in which the Lizzie of 1984 noticed that when she spoke in a more age-appropriate register, Mommy's smile was replaced by the same terrified frown that she had when she first took her to daycare. Simply put, Elly's clear need to not have to deal with baby talk collides with her equally strong need for Lizzie to not grow up and spread chaos and embarrass her. Ah, well. This isn't the first time Elly wanted to have her cake and eat it too and it will not be the last.