BABBLE ON

James' verbal/vocal skills are growing fast these days, so it's even more fun to have "conversations" with him now. Of course, he is also fully capable of having conversations with himself. Long, loud conversations with himself. In the wee hours of the morning. In the dark. He's a strange duck...

He is getting better at copying our words. We can often hear sounds similar to "mama", "hi", "baby", and "good boy" come out of his mouth. Since those are the words we say to him most often, I guess it makes sense that he's picking them up, even in their preliminary forms. Although most are just sounds (yes, we know he isn't actually talking yet), his "mama" is getting pretty good! Of course, he just as regularly says "MAMAMA" and "MAMAMOM" as "mama" though. And it's often when he's whining and wants to be picked up. Jay loves this, of course. He says "The baby's calling you!"

It's so funny to watch James try to talk because half the time he just studies our mouths, then moves his mouth and tongue the same way, without making a single sound. He'll do it over and over before he eventually gets a sound out. It's like he's thinking really hard about how to do it, then he practices the movement before actually trying to say it. He can often get a sound out that is similar to what we've said IF we're just saying the simple words I mentioned above - otherwise he just knits his eyebrows together like he has no clue what we're trying to get him to do. But even if his attempt sounds nothing like what we've said, we still get all excited and encourage him (we believe in positive reinforcement around here), and he gets this big ol' smile on his face and just looks so darn proud of himself. It's adorable.

James is surprisingly camera-shy when it comes to talking. We've had a hard time capturing the babbling and mimicry on video, and we've been trying for weeks. The other morning on the way to daycare I took this video while holding the camera out to the side. I'm sneaky like that.

James' latest trick is singing. Yup, singing. Not in the traditional sense, of course, but singing in his own way. Lots of continuous, drawn-out, up-and-down tones. If I'm singing, he's usually singing along with me these days. If I stop, he gets quiet. And now that it's just James and one other little boy (who is only part-time) at daycare, he gets a LOT of one-on-one attention there. To keep things interesting for him, his caretaker will often take him to visit the older kids in their rooms (don't worry, we've given permission), or join them for some outside time (weather permitting). He just loves watching the other kids. The two-year-olds ask lots of questions about him, and like to talk to him and make him smile. They all know his name (they'll often yell things in the morning when we drop him off like "James is here" or "The baby is coming"). James is captivated by them. The one-year-olds are generally less interested in James, but he sure loves them! Their room is all girls, including the 2 that were in the nursery with him until recently. It has been reported multiple times now that when James visits them he sings to them. What a little charmer! There is one little girl that particularly likes James though. She escapes her room and runs to the nursery often during the day. When they catch her to bring her back, she says "But I want to see the baby"! How cute is that? He sings to his caretakers too, though I hear he plays favorites. In fact, he even sings in the bathtub now.