The first COVID-19 lockdown in the Netherlands allowed me to take a research detour: Instead of testing adult participants in the lab, I found myself on daily walks, understanding more about how children –my then-20-months-old daughter to be precise– learn language.

The first wave of COVID-19 brought a lockdown upon the Netherlands and tons of uncertainty. At the time of the first lockdown in March 2020, my daughter was about 20 months old and able to create two-word sentences. We went on walks every day which allowed me to experience first-hand what it means to get to grips with understanding language.