With a Sudden Squeal

Squeals and happy, high-pitched shouts are some of my favorite sounds these days. Raspberries and drool have taken on new meaning, and I find myself returning them often. Well, returning the raspberries at least, with the occasional errant saliva droplets vibrating off my tongue as I encourage my baby to keep expressing herself.

At 6 months old, Cleo is rapidly approaching the time when she will prefer to repeat a single syllable over and over, mamamamamaMAma-mamaMa, or perhaps dadada-daDAdadada (to allow equal opportunity babbling), and the speech pathologist in me looks forward to that time eagerly. That time known as "reduplicated babbling" will herald my daughter's foray into intentional articulation, choosing to make the same consonant-vowel combination over and over again simply because she knows how, and wants to practice her skill with making a specific speech sound.

But in the meantime, she expresses herself with wonderful combinations of non-speech sounds, squeals and growls and raspberries, often with a big smile on her face. Every morning she wakes up and begins loudly vocalizing her happy shouts and sliding-pitch squeals. My husband and I, after shaking our heads in disbelief that we're being awoken shortly after 6:00 a.m. -- AGAIN -- will lay there and listen to her for a while. Even the sounds she has made before are so enthralling for us, and she frequently manages to come up with new variations that leave us laughing and delighting in her self-expression.

Cleo conveys so much about her world and her perception of it with her unrestrained proclamations that she is having a good time, that she feels well, that she is enjoying our attention, that she is fascinated with her hand or one of her toys, that she just had a very tasty meal and all is right in the universe. She enjoys using her voice, she likes to stick her tongue out and feel the funny raspberries that she makes, she likes the tickly buzz in her lips when she makes "MMMmmm" sounds, and most of all she loves to open her mouth wide and feel the huge sounds coming out of her that fill the room, including her very own ears, giving her all the encouragement she needs to do it again.

"AAAAaaaahhhhhhhhhh--aaaaAHHHHHH--ppththththth--AHHH!" That's right, Cleo Tell us all about it -- we're listening and loving every note.