Baby ramblings, Part 1

Jonathan has recently taken off in talking.  He's not stringing words together yet so there haven't been many of those cute and funny baby talk moments yet, but he knows how to make the most of what he has.

Half an hour or so after putting the kids to bed tonight (and yes, they are now sleeping in the same room), I heard a plaintive little, "Mamma, mamma."  I went in to check on him.  Vivienne was in her crib, sound asleep, but Jonathan was standing up in his crib, wide awake.  The first thing he did was lift his arms to me and say "bao-bao" (the Chinese for pick me up and hold me).  Bedtime must be boring when your sister falls asleep first.  I turned on his CD and the little light mobile on the ceiling and told him that I wasn't going to get him up because it was time to sleep.  Immediately, he says, "da-da," followed by a really hopeful "ay-pah" (iPad).  When I said no to that, he went back to "da-da."  So I asked him if he wanted me to get daddy to come in and say "hi" to him.  He smiled and nodded.  I left and sent Stephen into him.  I'm guessing Jonathan tried the same "bao-bao" with daddy, because I could hear Stephen say, "No, Jonathan.  It's sleep-sleep time."  Immediately, "Mamma."  Finally, he asked Stephen for "book."  Last night I found a cheap little English book I had from my teaching days with Dora the Explorer (the love of his life, after Pocoyo and the iPad), and he wanted to go to bed with it last night and tonight.  Apparently, it had fallen down next to the crib, so Daddy rescued it and Jonathan is now contentedly "reading" to himself with sweet little murmurs.

Vivienne, too, is making progress on the linguistic development front.  She has been rather limited by the fact that she can pretty much only produce the "b" and the "d" sounds, so everyone is "da-da", including mommy, herself, Jonathan, and, of course, actual daddy.  It's usually pretty obvious from context who she is actually referring to, though.  Conversations with Vivienne go something like this.  Mommy will disappear into the bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen, and a voice will start up from behind the door, obviously calling to me.  "Da-da." 

I reply, "No, Mamma." 

"Da-da." 

"No, Mamma."  This usually goes on for several cycles before she gives up and goes back to Jonathan or daddy.

But tonight, it seems that Vivienne has doubled her phonemes.  In addition to, "da" and "ba," there were definite "ma"'s and "nah"'s.  I think at least once, she was actually saying "mamma" to me and not just randomly muttering.  Of course, she followed this immediately by pointing to Uncle Mike, who was over for a late-night visit, and saying "Mamma" quite clearly and distinctly.  Oh well.  It's progress.  She's definitely going to be a little talker like her brother (and her mother!) before we know it.

Now that they are both toddlers, daddy has his hands full!