That's great to hear, that we managed to balance those things! :D

Here's the thing. All kids are different. Julie is sometime over one year old (we don't state the exact age), and she would start recognising and using words by then. We tried to keep the vocabulary pretty narrow, but every kid is different. My mother tells me I started talking at 12 months old and I was using words by 14 months of age. (I haven't shut up since, but that's another matter! :D) So yes. Artistic license. We has it. ;D