More words from Emmers

We were in a playground in Purley at lunch today and Em launched a couple of new words on us.

Climbing the ladder up to a slide I was counting the steps for her and to my amazement, after I said "one" I got a "two" and "three" in reply. The last step, "four", failed to emerge from her lips. I've been trying to get her to expand her number-cabulary for ages, adding to "six", "eight" and "ten". I'm quite pleased with this late development.

Another oddity occurred today when I got home. Em was hissing like a snake. Not really sure what it was in aid of, but it was damn funny listening to her mooch around the house hissing at everything.

First words or just blah blah blah

Em has been "talking" now for quite a while. First there was "da da da" then there was "ba ba ba," you know just getting used to sounds. Over X-Mas she seemed to add "dukka dukka" to her repertoire as well.

The other night cousin Ben was over and as he was leaving we were all saying "buh bye" as you do, but in that annoyingly condescending way you can only get away with talking to a baby. As we were doing what most adults would smack us for, Em actually said "buh bye" as well. Of course, this has not been repeated since and part of me feels that a trained parrot has no idea of what they're saying either (i.e. we said it so much she just repeated it).

Since that "monumental event", Em has now added "ma ma ma" to her vocab, which has pleased Sue to no end. For me, it's signifying that Em is becoming comfortable with more sounds and mouth movements and this kind of development can only be good.

Dukka Dukka

Emily's not speaking yet, perse, but she is getting more verbal. Apart from the ubiquitous "da da" (always first with the important words!) she's now been known to add utterances that sound similar to "ape" and just today we heard something similar to "ma ma". Of course, to her it's just babbling as she has no clue that we are called mum and dad.

The one phrase she is uttering quite a bit, and it really started in Canada, is "dukka dukka". It's quite cute watching her furrowed brow get to grips with the complexities of a stuffed toy while uttering it in all seriousness. Not quite so cute, when she's saying it behind a wall of crying and tears, but the good and the bad come with the territory.

We're now back from the great white north and Emily had a lovely time. She seems - touch wood - to be coping with the jet lag better than mummy and daddy as it's currently 1am and neither of the adults are ready for bed, yet Emmers is fast asleep.

Having brought her back into her familiar surroundings, it's quite amazing how much she's changed in the three weeks we were away. Apart from uttering "dukka dukka" all the time, she's also noticeably taller, and she's begun pulling herself up when you go to pick her up. We're going to have to figure out quite soon how to drop the floor down a level on her crib.

I was once told to cherish these first few months as they are only that - a few months. I really didn't know how true that was until we got home.