Learning to communicate

It’s amazing how babies learn to communicate. Harry is learning all the time and, when it comes to making his feelings known, he’s pretty successful.

He is attempting to talk now. He says ‘dadda’ an awful lot, but it’s pretty indiscriminate and just when I think he’s referring to me, he shouts ‘dadda’ at the television instead.

Much to Melissa’s delight, he’s also started making a ‘mmmm’ sound. Melissa’s convinced he’s trying to say mum; I think he’s trying to tell us he’s hungry.

His only other word is ‘baba’, but neither of us can work out what he means when he says it. One thing’s for sure, he’s a real chatterbox already, always talking, shouting and muttering – obviously something he’s inherited from his mum.

Harry’s favourite means of communicating, though, is pointing. He learned to point just before Christmas and now, whenever he wants to get his hands on something, he points and shouts ‘ah’ or ‘eh’ until we eventually give in – which is normally followed by Harry clapping his hands and smiling.

Harry’s also learned that if he puts both arms in the air, we’ll pick him up. Now he’s forever waddling over to us, dropping a book in our lap and putting both his arms in the air.

I’d like to say he then sits happily for 15 or 20 minutes reading the book, but it normally lasts five minutes before he starts pointing at another book and shouting.

Harry’s other means of communication is, of course, crying. Fortunately for us, he’s not a grumpy baby so we don’t have to put up with a lot of this, unless he’s not feeling well, he’s hurt himself – or he’s hungry.

He’s even learning to put himself to sleep at night, so we no longer have the half-hour tantrum we were getting before Christmas. This has certainly made for a calmer atmosphere in the Wright household – something of a relief after a day of chasing Harry round.