Everyone in any family has at least one person who talks to kids in a high-pitched ugly-wugly voice that is a compromise between Minnie Mouse and a poorly written lullaby. Babies seem to like it, they laugh and the smarter ones might clap, but it seems unlikely the talking style helps with a baby’s development. Plus it makes you look a little silly. Which may be why Neil Patrick Harris won’t do it.

Harris spoke to People recently about his 15 month-old kids, Gideon and Harper. During the conversation he discussed his young ones' attitudes and how he plans to raise them - which doesn’t include any baby talk, due to the way he was raised by his own parents.

"My parents always talked to my brother and myself like we were regular people and not babies. So I don't talk down to them in baby talk. I try to talk to them even though they can't speak the language yet."

What Harris does not say is whether partner David Burtka indulges in the occasional gaga moment. Without that that kind of influence on either end, Gideon and Harper seem like they could grow up to be a couple of eloquent, serious young lads. For, now however, they are content to smile and be happy. According to Harris, the two little tykes are in “the huggy phase.” Which is a might bit better than the “getting in to everything” phase which will come as the two boys edge near age two.