Baby Talk

"My friend has a baby. I'm writing down all the noises the baby makes 

so later I can ask him what he meant." — Steven Wright

   Isn't there a worldwide consensus that baby sounds and baby talk are precious? When our little ones start to find their voices and join the ranks of us communicators, we seem to just eat it up. There are grandparents across the globe that spend every waking minute of their visits trying to get a baby to make some sort of sound (along with that sought after smile). It warms our hearts when we wake up to it in a bassinet next to our beds. It brings a smile to our faces when we hear it accompanying a successful toy grab. Sometimes baby talk is introspective, and sometimes it is directed at us or a sibling. Either way, it's a welcome thing. Except at weddings, funerals, church, middle of the night, and so forth. 

   The noises become partial words. The partial words becomes actual words. The words are eventually strung together and then life goes on to mimic the line from Shrek:

Princess Fiona: "It talks!"
Shrek: "Yeah, it's getting him to shut up that's the trick!"

   I won't bore you with the experts who state how important it is to talk to your child. Those of you with more than one will agree that on average, your first one took longer to learn to talk than the younger ones. It's certainly true with ours. It makes sense that the oldest only had us parents to talk to. My younger two get NON-STOP verbal action. Between mom, dad, older sibling, and middle sibling, the youngest will be spouting the Gettysburg Address in no time!
  So talk to your children, first thing. Cherish those baby talk moments, because soon they'll be saying "no",....and they'll be able to give a reason why.

J.