Talking Turkey

Baby talk- I mean real baby talk- the chatter that evolves from a mere few months of existence until eventually it becomes real talk. The more vocal babies get the cuter they get, everyone loves a newborn- sure, but when a baby reaches the babble, gurgle excited arm waving stage they reach new levels of irresistibility. We have reached that stage- the stage where toys are met with arms in the air and baby biscuits with excited if indistinguishable high pitched sounds. Excepting the squeals- (we don't love the squeals) these noises of appreciation are utterly delectable.

Baby talk turns into 'real' talk when baby begins to associate words correctly. While every parent tries desperately to hear full sentences amongst the baby babble and at the very least recognises several highly accomplished words such as 'dada' 'mama' 'duckduck' in reality until baby says 'dada' when he walks in the room (not coincidently) or 'duckduck' when pointing at a duck, in reality, sorry folks, they are just sounds that baby can easily make. Baby talk progresses to real talk when baby can process that a word he says relates to an object or person he sees or wants.

First words have always interested me. My nephew said 'bubble' (very clearly- with the correct association) as his first word. In fact 'bubble' was all he said for a very long time- I can only assume that my brother lives in particularly bubbly house- (although I have never seen evidence of this)- it is certainly not a word that I would imagine is said more often than say mummy or daddy. Yet, the little man clearly only felt compelled to say 'bubble', a sign of contentment perhaps that he never felt the need to ask for anything else. My sister (three years my senior) was born deaf (she hears perfectly now) and as a result had speech therapy having not spoken a word by the age of four. A one year old me- sitting in on the therapy lessons, learnt to speak incredibly quickly- at my 16 month check up the doctor asked my mother how I made my wants known and my mother answered to a bemused doctor "she simply says- 'I want a drink'- 'no go to bed'..." Encouragement then, can help but try to encourage association at the same time. When baby says 'dada' (or what sounds like 'dada') don't repeat it over and over unless 'dada' is actually in the room- guide baby by pointing out who people are. If he says 'duck' show him a duck (in a book..).

Baby's brain is like a filing cabinet- each day he files away new bits of information that he will keep with him for life, whether it is what a carrot tastes like or how to put his toe in his mouth, with the best will in the world the filing system can get on top of him. Give him time to put the files in the right drawers and eventually- on one VERY VERY happy day, he will start to talk the talk.