"Baby"

Isaac often begins speaking just as he is emerging from sleep, which I like to think gives us insight into his mind. These are the first words that come to him, the words just at the surface of his consciousness. What do they say about his priorities and interests?

As Isaac awakens he frequently says "Mama!" -- both cheerfully and not -- but that shouldn't come as a surprise. We all know he's interested in his mother (and clearly the feeling is mutual). More revealingly, over the last few weeks he's been making animal noises as he wakes up. We often ended up co-sleeping while we were visiting various grandparents, and there's something charming about being woken by a small sleepy voice in your ear saying, "Hee-haw. Mee-ow."

Why these particular animal noises? He learned to say hee-haw right before Christmas and he's been totally obsessed with it -- he says it many times a day. It and meow are among the few two-syllable words he says with accuracy, so maybe he recognizes them as something special. And generally speaking, animal noises are the closest we can come to having a real conversation -- I say the name of the animal or make the noise, and he responds accordingly -- which he really enjoys, so maybe he thinks of this as soon as he awakens.

Intriguingly, Isaac has just begun saying "baby" as he wakes up. (That's another two-syllable word.) He's been able to use baby in appropriate contexts for quite a while now, but he has just begun to be excited about using it to identify himself. Many times a day he will point at himself, totally unbidden, and enthusiastically say "Baby!" He'll also point himself out in a photo, then point to his own chest, and say "Baby!" While I do think he could say "Isaac" if he tried (or at least "Ike," as he can say "eye" and the "ck" sound in sock and clock), I feel like he's using "Baby" as his name instead. He's using it for more than just identifying his age group, anyway, and I think his saying it as he wakes reveals its new importance to him.

For example, tonight I was helping him feed the dog, and he was more interested in scattering the kibble across the floor. I took the cup of food away from him and asked, "Does Mama have to carry the food for you, or do you want to do it yourself?" He said, "Baby," and reached out for the food.

It seems significant that he may be starting to refer to himself as an individual, by a name of sorts. When do kids usually begin to do this?

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New words for the day: nose and bee. And when I pointed out Craig's dad in a photograph, Isaac remembered him and without prompting did his best to say "Grandpa" -- there was a G sound at the beginning, and a "pa" at the end, which is good enough for me.