The Silence is Broken!

I've been slightly concerned that The Divine Miss J isn't babbling yet (something that books say is a 6 month milestone). Gabey and Elliott were babbling fools...but my sweet little peanut is kind of quiet. Well, she yells and sings and makes her own noises, but there is no babbling. No ma-ma-ma, da-da-da, ba-ba-ba, goo-goo-goo...you get the idea. My thought is that since she has two of the talking-est siblings on the face of the planet and a mother who never shuts up, why should she have to babble? Whenever she makes any noise, The Boy or The Big Girl are there to tend to her. She doesn't have to move, cry, speak - they do everything for her.

Yesterday, however, Jon pointed out that she says a word - not a babble, not a coo, but a word. Of course I thought he was insane. She has no words, she's just making noises. Yes, she carries on a "conversation" with her Raggedy Ann and her monkeys, but it's normal baby stuff. So, he put her in her "hopper" (exersaucer), and she started hopping away. He kept telling her, "Say it. Say it for Mommy." I shook my head and walked away. And then she said it - the word. "Hop!" I came right back over and looked at her. Of course she clammed right up. So Jon moved her to the jumper thing in the doorway of the bathroom. And she started right in with her hopping. And with her talking. Every time she jumps, she says hop. When she's not jumping, she's laughing or yelling - nothing discernable comes out of her mouth. But once she starts hopping, she yells out the word "hop".

I know, I know. She's only 6 months old - she can't possibly be talking. She's simply mimicking the sounds that we make when we tell her to hop. And I'm fine with that! It's not necessarily babbling, but it's something!