Baby Babble

Da-Dah, Ma-mah, Ba-bah....

Well, Jack may have walked at the same age as Katja & Robbie, but he is definitely not talking like them! Of course, with two older siblings at his beck & call there is hardly a need. What he IS doing, is having a heck of a time experimenting with making sounds.... In that sense, he is quite the little chatter box! I was watching and old re-run of Family Feud the other day and the question in play was "What are a baby's first words?" I am proud to say that I got all four answers correct! In case you are wondering, they were- #1-Dada, #2- Mama, #3- Baba (bottle...all the men in the game had to be given the translation to this one by the women), and #4- No! (they learn quickly that MANY things around the house are forbidden to little people!) While I was smug about knowing all of these answers, I quickly realized that Jack can make all of these sounds, but he does not use them purposefully. If asked where people are, he does look in their direction so we know there is recognition, but he has no interest in vocalizing with purpose just yet. In fact, the only word that he consistently uses with purpose is "Bah", which of course, means "ball." I know that he has made the connection because he is often chasing balls around the house while saying "ba-ba-ba-ba-bah." The child is obsessed! I, on the other hand, am obsessed with him calling me "mama." Katja and Robbie laugh in hysterics every time Jack experiments while babbling and stumbles upon "mama" because regardless of where I am in the house, I will hear him and yell, "That's me! That's me! I'm your mama...." and run to him and lavish a plethora of hugs and kisses upon him. At this point Jack joins in the hilarity by laughing and squirming and switching to some other sound just to get me to shut up. I secretly think he knows what he is doing and is just yanking all of our chains! At this same age, Katja would grab The Book and say "Go Dog Go" plop herself in my lap and had me reading it over, and over, and over, and over.... Jack chews on books and tosses them aside as if they were a "bah." Of course, Robbie did too and now he wins all kinds of accelerated reader awards so I am not worring one bit! It is amazing to me how children of the same parents, raised in the same environment can all be so different!!!!