AAAHHH!!!

Madeleine has a new favorite game, in which someone (usually Ethan) looks at her and says, in a guttural rasp, "Aaaahhh!" She then opens her mouth really wide and responds, "Aaaahhh!" And back and forth and back and forth. It's pretty neat to see this first step towards talking; she understands that she's in control of her vocalization and is deliberately imitating the sound she's hearing. Hopefully, however, she will eventually move from a demonic, rasping "Aahhh!" to real words, but for now, it's a start. Here is a video I took of Ethan engaging her in this favorite game out in the backyard:



The best part of all is that when I was watching the video on my Flip Camera later on, Madeleine was crawling around the living room uttering "Aaaahhh!" in response to hearing herself do it on the video.

You may also notice that towards the end of the video Julia is beginning her endless "why" cycle. "Why did you say X?" (Explanation.) "But why (some facet of explanation)?" (Further explanation.) "But why (some other facet of explanation)?" Etc. As we were putting her to bed this evening, I was about to read her a bedtime story, when I decided to tease her a little, and we had a conversation that went something like this:

JULIA: Your turn to read, Mommy.
ME: Why my turn to read?
JULIA: Because it is.
ME: Why because it is?
JULIA: Because it's time to read my bedtime story.
ME: Why your bedtime story?
JULIA: Because I want you to read it.
ME: Why do you want me to read it?
JULIA: Mama, why are you being me?

Interesting that she knew I was imitating her! At least she is aware of what she's doing! And happily, I must have burnt out her interest in asking "why this, why that" because she listened contentedly to the whole story without interruption. Hmmm, perhaps I have learned a valuable tactic, although I can't imagine the "whys" can really stay quiet for long...