So Much To Say

Lately I've been thinking about how much Hannah is actually communicating at 9 months. Sometimes she yells when we walk into a room. It sounds like a greeting. Right after we moved we noticed that she had started "growling". Oddly enough she sounds so much like Nathan when she does this that we can't determine who is making the noise while sitting in the front seat of the car. She seems to imitate other noises he makes as well. When she's been asleep and wakes up, Nathan likes to get really close to her and says, "Hey. You 'wake? Awww, Hannah's 'wake" (in the high pitched voice imitating the way all adults talk to babies). I swear I've heard Hannah imitate the "Hey" part. She has said several of the early words that babies say... "Mama, Dada, Baba". None of them in any context except for maybe "Baba" which we have turned into "bye-bye" because she will sometimes wave when she says it. I don't think I was as aware of how much Nathan was communicating with us at this age. Watching her makes me think about frustrating it sometimes must be to try and communicate without words.

I see you young and soft, oh little baby
Little feet, little hands, little feet, little baby
One year of cryin' and the words creep up inside
Creep into your mind, yeah
So much to say
So much to say...
I finally get a little part of that song. At least I think I get it.  I hear myself telling Nathan over and over that Hannah's crying because that is the only way she can tell us things. I feel her frustration in her tears. She really does only cry when she needs something or is trying to tell us something. I don't think I got that before. I was not as empathetic to a crying baby before I had my own. I had to learn to try and put myself in the place of my babies. That is how I've gotten through a lot of rough spots.

At this stage in our lives we have one child who is trying to learn the words to express what she wants to say and one who has definitely found ALL of the words known to man! He has no problem expressing himself or communicating. My mom said that we better hope Hannah is not quite as verbal as Nathan or we may never get another word in! That may be true, but I do love the sounds of their little voices and I know there will come a day when that chatter will be missing from our home. I believe that Joey and I will have a lot to say to each other when that day comes. But for now we have the joy of listening as these two take in everything and give us a fresh new perspective on this world.