Genius Baby!

Gwena had her 18 month checkup last week and they asked me if she could say 6-10 words. Ha! Try 32! Here they are:

mama
dada
uh oh
up
down
hi
bye
eyes
ears
toes
belly (bellybutton)
boom
dog
bear
bird
baby
book
ball
apple
milk
back (as in "put it back")

pee pee

poo poo

elbow
eyebrow

peeka (peekaboo)
Oui-Oui
Doudou
Mickey
blankie
cookie
keys

Of course there are a ton of words she can understand but not say, and a few she will repeat after I say them but never says on her own. So yes, that's right, I have a genius baby. ;P

Words, Words, Words

Gwena has been learning new words all the time now. I'm so proud of her, but it's also been frustrating, because sometimes she'll learn to understand or say a new word, and then will refuse to cooperate when I try to show someone else. Or else she'll completely stop responding to the word the way she was. Like with "nose" for instance. It was the first body part word she understood; we asked where her nose was, and she grabbed it every time! But then she learned "eyes" and got very confused... now she'll point to her eyes when you ask for her nose, or point to her nose and say "eyes".

I need to get some videos of her talking and otherwise being really cute, but the memory on my camera (aka my phone) is currently full, so I'll have to delete some stuff and/or move the picture and videos to my computer first.

These are the words she can currently say or at least try to say, in no particular order:

mama

dada

uh oh

up

hello "eeyo"

bye bye "bah bah"

eyes "eyesh"

ears "eesh"

toes "doe"

dog "dah"

cat "kya"

boom "bao" (when she falls down)

bellybutton "buh"

book "bah"

She also understands a lot of words that she doesn't try to say. I don't think I can list them all but here are a few:

kiss

clap

wave

sit

dance

twirl

arms up

milkies (aka mama's milk)

mouth

teeth

baby

I'm sure there are more... maybe I'll add more later if I think of any.

It is so fun to hear Gwena talking and see her understanding and responding to things I say!

My Linguistic Hypocrisy

Gwena has been babbling for a few weeks now. She started with "ma ma" and later moved on to "la la" "ba ba" "da da" and my favorite "blah blah".* Now, I am well aware that she isn't actually talking yet. "Mama" was not her first word. This is what logic and my knowledge of linguistics and language development tell me. But I won't deny it melts my heart every time she says it!

"Mama" means the same thing in many different languages. It's the first thing most babies say, not because they're talking about their moms, but because it's simply one of the easiest sounds for babies to make. Of course, the moms then interpret it as referring to themselves! Who else would the baby be talking about?

I always thought this fact was funny... I thought other moms were silly when they'd say their 6 month old had said his first word, "mama".* Yet now when Gwena says it, I find myself responding!

"Mamamamamama!"

"Aw, I'm right here baby."

"Dadadadadada!"

"That's right, daddy's coming home from work soon."

I know she doesn't attach meaning to those sounds yet, I know she isn't talking! Maybe I'm just so starved for human interaction from staying home all day that I'm willing to pretend she's talking. Maybe it's an instinctual maternal reaction. Maybe that's how she'll eventually learn to associate the meaning with the sound. In any case, I feel like I'm betraying all my linguistical education.

Jon laughs at me every time I answer her. "She's not talking about you, you know."

But I can't help it, her babbling is just so cute and it's fun to have "conversations" with her. So I'm not going to try to stop, I'm embracing the motherly silliness!

*Oh yes, I put those periods outside the quotation marks on purpose. Long live the Campaign for Typographical Freedom! (If you don't know what that is, please read The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax by Geoffrey K. Pullum!)