baby talk

So unless you ask Jason who insists that Caleb said his first word when he was about six months old and started saying, "da da", the jury is kinda out on whether or not Caleb has officially said his first word. I lean toward no, but there are a few sounds that he has started to associate with certain things.

His favorite sound by far still remains "da." But his uses for it have become quite versatile. He uses it to say "that" or "what's that?" when he points at things and wants us to tell him what they are...or just wants to show them to us because he's super excited about them. He also says, "da da," for doggie. And "da da" for bye bye. Perhaps I'm beginning to sound a little crazy to you, but I swear it's true. He isn't just randomly saying it...not always at least. He'll point at a dog and say "da da" or wave goodbye and say "da da." And it's different from the other more random times he says it. He does associate da da with Jason now too. The other day Jason was leaving and he said, "da da, da da." In other words, "bye bye, Dada." And maybe I'm imagining it, but I feel like I can tell the difference between a da da used for one thing and a da da used for another...different inflections or something.

Anyway, I'll move on from the da's. He does say a couple of other things. For balloon, he says "bbb." And he just recently started saying "ah ah" for uh oh. Yes I realize that uh oh is more of a sound than a word. And why he can't just say "uh oh" instead of "ah ah", I don't know. But it's cute. Another fun sound that he makes came from us saying "tickle tickle tickle" when tickling him. I still have to get it on video, but he basically says, "tickatickatickaticka," and it sounds just like he's saying "tickle." It's one of my favorite sounds of his.

He's been making a little progress on his signs lately too. He has the eat one down pat...no surprise there. He's still working a bit on "all done"...he can do the sign, but doesn't always associate it with the meaning. He'll do it at random times including in the middle of a meal...and then get upset if I stop feeding him. That's okay...he'll get there. :-)