Do you feel happy when your baby started to mumble? Of course, it’s a YES, our feelings are mutual. My baby girl Chesska began to mumble in the mid 3-4 months by simply expressing "okoh". She started to mumble one-syllable words like pa-pa and te-te when she started crawling. She had been saying these constantly everytime she woke up early in the morning. I envied my husband because Chesska could already say pa-pa. (lol). I wanted her to say mama but it was not happening yet, despite teaching her every morning that sound. I knew that was only a baby talk, just mumbling without meaning and comprehension.
Based on my observation, a baby can easily imitate sounds when he/she is exposed to different stimuli like interactive toys that make sounds when pressed, nursery rhymes, music, educational cds, a talking doll or toy - just to name a few. A baby's brain is like a sponge, it absorbs anything heard or seen.
When my baby reached 6-7 months,since prior to these months, she was exposed to watch an educational cd entitled "SOUNDS" of different animals, it seemed it’s easy to stimulate into her brain to baby talk more words. She started to mumble shhhhhh sound of a snake; other words like eeffff, mmmmm, and erf – these uttered sounds gave me no idea what she meant. Playing that cd constantly in the morning and afternoon, she began to express emotions like being excited and happy. I was also awed of her focused- attention watching the cd for 15 minutes.Always remember, babies have short span of attention, right?
When she was in her 8 -10 months, I noticed that she began to refuse watching the cd. I thought she was tired watching it over and over again, so I switched the cd to Barney and Friends and played it constantly. As time rolled by, she was already interacting by giggling when the dinosaurs giggle, and jumped jubilantly when her favorite scene was viewed.
On her one year of age, she received a gift, a Dora doll. When you press her tummy, she talked. She was fond of listening to her, most especially when Dora sang a song. She rocked her head and shook her body with the melody. It was really enjoyable to watch my baby rocks with her Dora doll.
Now, she is one year and one month old, she can understand when I say “NO” and she simply nods her head. When she cries, at times, she says ma-ma. Sometimes, her gestures like waving hands for expressing “bye” as well as clapping her hands when she is happy – these are some of the behavioral manners she imitated from me.
Final Words
A mother plays a vital role in child's development in any aspect of learning. Provide him/her quality time by playing together, baby talking together, eating together, bathing together and most importantly, provide a happy, love-filled and interactive environment. Start to teach good examples, simply because, babies are great imitators. The onset of learning of a child during this stage is very crucial, pampered the child what we think is best for the baby’s exploration, discovery, and learning.
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