Thursday, December 18, 2008
Baby Hippo
Reagan is just learning to talk. For the most part she just mimics what is said to her, but she also learning that by mimicking she gets a reaction out of us. We get so excited about the noises she makes that sound like words. Today she said "ow", "bagel" and "please". But I don't think she completely understands what the words mean. Except "please" (which by the way sounded like "peas"). She was holding the book "Corduroy's Snow Day" and whining. I was completely ignoring her as I tried to clean up the remnants of the stomach bug she caught off her changing table. She just stopped, held the book up to me and said "peas". I was so excited I forgot what she was asking me about. I scooped her up carried her downstairs and announced to Daddy that our smart little girl just said "please". Then nothing. She never said it again (at least not today).
Our doctor said that speech and the understanding of speech develops in three phases. First, babies understand that they can make vocal noise. Secondly, they understand that their noises actually get attention and as they get more and more verbal they think that the sounds that they are actually making are words that everyone else understands, regardless of the fact that we don't. At that point it is every parent's job to play the role of translator. Every little sound might just be that word you have been waiting to hear. For instance Reagan's word for "dog" was "gog". Thirdly, the words, the meaning and the vocalization all come together.
This week she did possibly two of the cutest things I have seen her do. During her bath she pointed towards the shelves in the shower and started whining. On the shelves are two stuffed puppets that look like hippos, one "mommy" and one "baby". I said, "Which one do you want? The Mommy or the baby." She paused, smiled and very thoughtfully said "bay-bee". So stinkin' cute! Then as I handed her the puppet, she put it on her hand and I put the mommy hippo on my hand she started waving her hippo in the air as I waved mine. We had our own little puppet show.
So for now most days the words we hear are "dog", "no" (our favorite, which just started last week), "uh-oh" and "ca" (cat). I am hoping that "please" becomes a part of her everyday vocabulary, but I guess we will have to wait and see. Oh yeah, then there is her "uh-uh-huh" (kind of like a raspy cough), this means her throat is dry and she'd like a drink. Not quite a word, but we understand. For now, that is all that matters.
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