Communications Baby-Pro

It is amazing what messages Max can get across without saying it.

Micah started talking really early, maybe about 9 months he was already doing double syllable words: apple, purple, turtle and tractor. By the time he could walk, on the day of his first birthday, he probably had more than 70 words vocab (I never counted and can't quite remember, but he could communicate every intension and everything he wanted). He could say good morning, goodbye, his own name and a whole bunch of other stuff. I never actually looked at growth and development charts before but after people kept saying he was remarkable I looked at a few. These days he uses phrases like "I think..", "Remember ...?", "Maybe..." He loves to repeat long words like umblical cord and intestines and reservoir. He is also experimenting with the article "an" so almost everything is an "an", i.e. "an orange" (ok, that's correct), "an cracker", "an chocolate milk", "an banana"... the list goes on. Sometimes when he is in a happy and funny mood, he will talk gibberish and then give you the translations, e.g. "wattataweheuu means tractor" and he will even get you to speak it: "Say wat-ta-taweheuu. Wattataweheuu." Of course we comply and play and we all giggle. He is a really funny boy. He also loves to sing and dance and make his brother laugh.


Max just makes lots of sounds, "eengh!! eengh" and "arrh" and "aw" and "O", and with these he will get your attention and "tells" you what he wants by pointing. He also uses the same sounds, but with different stress to make animals' sounds ...if he is in the mood to respond and to entertain. But yesterday he stumped us. First he took grandma by the hand to the kitchen and said "eengh" and pointed at the rice cooker. He wanted dinner. This was after grandma shared a few spoons of rice from her plate. Obviously it was not enough, but he sure got the message through. Later, he took grandpa's hand led him to the toilet, pointed at his butt and said "aah, aaah." I went to intervene. He had soiled his diaper. We all cheered him and laughed. Boy, were we impressed!

Today Grandma and grandpa took Micah out for a CNY celebration at the community centre, mainly to catch the lion dance. Max was still asleep when they went out so I stayed home with him. Well, of course the main reason we did not take him out was because he has chicken pox. So when Max woke up it was a good time for us home alone. I nursed him a little then we had dinner with Sir David Attenburough on Astro 51. We had rice in a big bowl of soup. I was just giving Max plain rice because I did not want the soup to drip on the sofa. After a few spoons, Max pulled the bowl to his mouth and then tipped his head back. I thought he was funny so I called him "funny boy" and we laughed. He did it the second time, and we reacted the same way. The third time, he actually pulled the bowl down low enough till the soup touched his lips and he tried to slurp it. Then I got the message. Obviously this mommy still has not caught on as to how extensive his communication skills had become. After that he was a much more happier baby, sipping soup off the side of our big bowl, refusing the spoon. He sure had a good dinner.

Everyday, Micah and Max just blow us away with something astounding. They are so funny and also so entertaining. But most of all, they just overwhelm us with what they are learning. When i look at them, be it at play or rest, I just catch myself musing, "Our Creator is amazing... Awesome!"