Edith's profileYonder - I Found It!PhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
3/29/2009 INFANTILE COMMUNICATIONI have often thought that babies have a language all their own... they understand what they're saying even though the rest of us don't have much of a clue. As to whether babies understand one another... I think to a certain extent they do, but I don't think actual speech is required... at least, not all the time. I have seen complete (I believe) conversations take place with gestures, small sounds, raised or squinched eyebrows, mouth shapes, and body language between my son and other babies. I say complete conversations because there is an obvious greeting, (Dillon gets a big smile on his face and he says "Heyyyy!!"), the "body" of the communication over a few minutes time, and then an obvious dismissal of eachother... after which both babies have contented, "At least I got my point across" looks on their faces and they move on to the next thing... whatever that may be.
As for communication between myself and my son... it's very interesting, and rather frustrating... to us both I think. One of the first words he ever said was "Deuce" for Juice... which now is more clearly "Juice"... or he'll say "bah bah" for his "bottle". There are other obvious words... or, what he uses for words to describe certain things... such as; "bops", which are grapes; "naaanaaas", obviously, banana's - not to be confused with "Naahhnuuuhhh", his paternal grandmother (sounds a lot alike and sometimes only the body language or hand gestures make the distinction).
He says "gog" for dog, "this" and "that" very clearly are just what he's saying, "bup" is sippy cup, "mama" or "mamayeee" is my name, and "dada" or "dadayeee" for his father. He says "skichchk" for chicken, and will answer "essss" for yes and a clear, drawn out "noooooo?" (always sounds like a question) for no. If he needs his diaper changed and I ask him if he wants me to do it, he blows air out between his lips vibrating them as if to say "yeah, it's yucky in there", sometimes he will even bring me a diaper... here mom... get the hint?
He says "bone" drawn out, very clearly, so I'll let him give doggie bones to our dog, Elvis. The word "ball" is very clear, and means just that.. he has a base ball, a basket ball (miniature), a foot ball (actually he has one nerf, one leather, and three stuffed), several wiffle balls, cloth balls, small plastic balls for various toys, and a couple of bouncy balls of different sizes... can you guess what his daddy wants him to do when he grows up? Might have something to do with BALLS... and actually I don't think B cares what kind, as long as Dillon is involved with some kind of sport through school, and if he has the smallest ounce of ability, that he pursues it as far as he can.
He will put his tiny finger on a button and say "Butt?" a zillion times a day... I think it's one of his favorite words. Pointing to any light, on or off, he says "laaa?", and most recently, his favorite question "Eh?" is reserved for when in the bath tub and he sits down in the water filling the tub, grabs hold of his privates and pulls as if to take them off... I always answer "penis... that's Dillon's penis" and he responds with the sound of the letter "p"... "Puh? Puh?", and I say "yes, baby, that's Dillon's penis". He smiles and goes on with his bath, gatherin his floaty toys and identifying them... "baaaaalll?" "duck?"
Dillon will point to a tiny picture of a duck on the plastic travel case for his baby wipes and very clearly identify it... "DUCK". When Sesame Street comes on it's a loud "uhMOHHHHH" for Elmo, and "BAAAAAAA" for Barney (stupid big purple dinosaur... I never wanted my child to like that show, but what can I do? His dad got him into it, and of course... the kid is in love). He clearly says "Ba Baiii", with a southern accent (I dreaded that happening... I feel like moving IMMEDIATELY to avoid any further contamination... :) for "bye bye" and waves both hands, palms up and fingers curling back toward himself.
Once in a while I truly believe he says phrases, or sentences... which are clearly understood... though I'm not sure if he actually means them as what they are when he says them. "I yah you" was also one of the first things he said, and though I think he can say it clearly, and he knows what it means, he reserves it for very quiet times, like waking up in the middle of the night, and said very softly... almost making me think I've immagined it... in response to me cuddling him and soothing him back to sleep... all the while telling him "I love you baby... I love you so much... you know mama loves you, right?... you're ok... shhhhh..." and then he says it.
That's the intelligible communication between us. Then there's all the stuff I guess at... which sometimes I think impresses him because I guess correctly, but most often frustrates the poor little dude terribly because I haven't got a clue. He'll be jabbering on... often making exactly the same sounds over and over, using hand gestures and trying to lead me where he wants me to go, or show me what he wants me to see... and I'm clueless. I guess... is THIS what you want? No? Ok, what is it Dillon? Oh... is it this? (hope in my voice) No? Ok, I'm sorry baby... what is it? Tell mama... and he looks at me as if to say "are you kidding? I've been telling you for 10 minutes now and you're still clueless"... and we try again. Often either he or I will give up in frustration and a desire to just move on... when he does I'm gratefull... when I do he's annoyed and kicks up a bit of a fuss until I can distract him... at which time he completely forgets what he originally wanted... for a while. He will invariably get reminded at some point and try again... that's good though, right? Persistence is a good thing to develop... and patience, which he's sorely lacking.
It's all such a wonderful journey for me. I am having a blast with my little Doo... his nick names have grown from just "Doobie" to either "Doobie Doo" or "Doobie" or "Doo" or "Dewie"... or a long drawn out "Dewwwwwwww"... he answers to them all... including his real name, "Dillon". His dady calls him "Buddy", which he also answers to. I wonder if he knows what his real name is? Even our friends in church call him "Dew" or "Doobie".
We play together with his musical toys every day. I read his little cardboard books to him... over and over and over again, and very seldom from front to back... usually he hands one to me opened to a page, where I start reading, and I often only get to read just that one page, or a couple of pages along, and then he takes back the book and mumble-reads a page to me before being done with it, discarding it, and moving on to the next thing on his agenda... and he does have an agenda. I know this because if I should happen to suggest something, or begin to do something I might be interested in... if I initiate playing with something that wasn't part of his original agenda he very clearly stops me, removes whatever it is I'm playing with, and pointedly gets me involved with what HE had in mind... no mama, not the helicopter with music and balls, we're going to play with my red barn with the music and animals instead. Or, no, I don't want to read a book now, here's my BAAAALLLLLL, and he'll chuck it at me.
I try to make his television programs interactive, rather than passive. I read that television encourages passive learning and so makes it more difficult for children once they go to school to be interested in interactive learning, which is of course what they NEED to be able to do in order to succeed in school. I'll get him clapping with the kids on the programs, or dancing, or point out colors and compare them to his clothing or toys. I'll sing with the songs, the a b c's or counting or whatever they're singing and grab Dillon up and dance around the room with him. He laughs and claps and really gets into it.
Well, that's enough for now. Can you tell my favorite subject any more is my little man? He is my best. He is my love. My miracle and my life from now until eternity... I can't get enough of him. I'll try to post some pictures here soon... I have to find my download cord for my camera first though. I'll post more soon. Take care! Comments (2)
TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://40shopintravler.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!CBE8CEF234BA1C25!1036.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
|
|
|
