"Oh, and by the way," she said in a very grown-up voice, "I'd like a receipt, please."

Not baby talk, but like an adult, in a grown-up voice.

"It's very simple, Dad," Nicole was saying in her most reasonable grown-up voice.

"I'll see that things go all right," said Julian, speaking in his most grown-up voice.

"They all are, the big ones," said June in a grown-up voice.

She glanced sideways and said, 'Thank you so much,' in a grown-up voice like her mother's.

At times, she allows Via to speak in an almost grown-up, or at least teenage, voice.

Back to the grown-up voice, laughing: "And knowing is half the battle."

"We just need $2,000 more to fix the house up," Marina said in a grown-up voice.

'I have a great deal to do,' she said in a dismissively grown-up voice.