Words

We first noticed Johanna saying 'baby' while we were in Ohio. She would climb over to Leo sitting peacefully in his rocker, poke her head in and say bay-bee. At first I thought it was a fluke but she continued to do it the entire trip. Sometimes very staccato and high pitched- BayBee!, other times low and very drawn out- baaaayyyyyybeeeeeeee.  When we gave her the baby doll she would say the same thing, bay-bee! Now every time we hand her the baby doll she exclaims cheerfully "Bay-bee!" which is usually followed by a series of full-faced smooches.

Another word Johanna is saying is 'hi.' She will wave hi/bye which can either be in the form of a strict Hitler-like salute, or a very lose flapping of her hand up and down. Either way she chooses to wave she is now adding with it the sound 'hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii' or 'heeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!' 

Lastly, in times of need (i.e. waking up from a nap and wanting desperately out of her crib or if I daresay leave her with someone else while I go into another room when she is feeling particularly needy) I will hear her cry for me.... "MaaaaMaaaaaMaaaa!" I walk into her nursery and there she is standing up, in which she will lift both arms off the rail to reach up to me, "Mamama!'

I know these are very primitive words to say the least, but I also know she is beginning to make these sounds with associations. How fun is this!?