ah, music. sweet, sweet music.
today, she said a word. a word that meant something. a sound that symbolized and communicated meaning.
she is almost 17 months now and hasn’t uttered anything that we could technically call a word. no ma-ma. no da-da. not even a simple no. just grunts and screams and noises but nothing resembling the english language.
of course as a mom you just say to others and yourself, "oh, she’s just developing at her own pace. no worries. she’ll talk when she’s ready." but deep down you say a little more than that. something like, "i pray it’s nothing more than that. please do let her talk when she’s ready."
i think i breathed an audible sigh of relief today when i heard and understood what she said. and i savored the reassurance that she will communicate when she is ready.
and what was that joyous word?
i was putting away groceries while she sat in her highchair eating some grapes. she kept yelling to get my attention and when i turned around she put her hands together to sign and say "mo." and every time she ran out of grapes she would sign and say it again, "mo."
i was so giddy it didn’t matter that she ate half the bag. maybe i’ll re-think that tomorrow when she starts burning up the diapers. but for now….if you want "more" baby, you got it!!
3 Comments
YAY!!!! So excited for this first sign of communicative awareness!! And what a great word for the first! Not only can she say a word but she can use it to get what she wants! Attagirl! Ryan is still doing mostly grunting, crying, and other things to get my attention and try to communicate. He’s 23 months… we’re seeing specialists. And we have Talking Hands in the DVD player. I’m sure some of it is that boys are just slower than girls to mature in language development (because my daughter was talking in sentences by this age but couldn’t jump at all, whereas Ryan is not only jumping and has been for months.. but now he’s jumping *from* things…like the couch (good thing we live near a hospital because I have a feeling we’ll be needing their services sometime soon). I hope I’m just over-parenting with all the different doctors we’re seeing re: speech and feeding! I hope that one day he wakes up and comes over to me and says, “Good morning Mommy, and how are you this fine day. I sure am hungry and would love some pancakes for breakfast.” LOL! We have a ways to go! How about MOMMY…. I think I’d be happy for that!
Anyhow – keep feeding her grapes! And get it on video!!! And then scrap it baby, scrap it! Her first word! This is IMPORTANT stuff!
Yay for Ella! It’s all on her time and hers alone. 🙂
wooohoo, Ella!
mo!
love ya mo!