Becoming a Speaker, a Signifier, a First-Person Subject!

Jack is now talking! He and his sweet brother have both been making noises for quite some time like "da da da" or "bah bah bah", but Woody came up with his first official word -- "Uh Oh" -- about a month ago. He uses it in the correct context and on queue, so we call that a word. "Bye Bye" followed closely behind, along with blowing kisses with a hearty "Mah!"

Jack has decided to wait until this week to assert himself as a speaker of words. He started with "Yeah." It's really very sweet. He can tell by our tone when we are asking a question, and he'll chime in with a loud "Yeah!" From there, he began realizing that he gets a lot of positive attention when he makes new sounds, and especially if he repeats a real word. And boy, did he get a reaction when he used a word that meant something in context, like "yeah." He now says "E-I-E-I"; yes, as in "E-I-E-I-O". And he's been calling me "Boom Boom", but we're not sure how he got that out of "Mama".

Isn't it amazing how empowering it is to communicate? Yes; Jack has been communicating through gestures and screaming in pain or in excitement, but through language, a list of new possibilities opens up. We can object to ideas, agree with ideas. and even express our own ideas. Jack is becoming his own subject! I know I'm a nerd, but that's pretty cool, right? My babies are all, indeed, little people.