Mimicry

The Sprout has been working on his vocabulary these past couple of weeks.  He has already proven to be quite the mimic when it comes to activities, but it seems he can also mimic words...albeit in his own "dah, dah" way.

He doesn't use many other sounds than "dah," "dat," "doot," "doo" and "uh-oh,"  but he combines them with the amount of syllables required in a word and pairs that with the context in which it is used.  Recently we have been practicing the words "thank you" when something is handed to another person.  The Sprout finally mastered it.  When he gives me something he say "dat doo" and when I hand it back he says "dat doo."  Needless to say "dat doo" is "Thank you."  We also know when he is taking about Richard "dah-dah" rather than mom "dah-dah" because it is coupled with the "bye-bye" wave.

Richard likes to do a funny finger wiggle to the Jaws music before tickling the Sprout.  The Sprout has now picked up on this and says "doo-daht" over and over.  He had been saying this for a long time before we figured out what he was referring to.

I find it interesting that when he began making sounds, he had a fun time with "mamamama" but that has long since been replaced with sounds beginning with "d."  It must be a much more fun sound to make, although in my opinion "mmm" is better because it makes my mouth tickle.  

Whether or not he decides to make actual words anytime soon is unknown, but the fact that he is picking up on the words and their contexts is fascinating.  It is only a matter of time before he is introduced to everything our house since he has started to point at every little thing shouting "DAT" which I assume is "what's that?"