Do You Hear What I Hear?

I’ve read several articles recently that warn that many 6-month old babies develop a habit of fake coughing to get attention. Right on schedule, Ryan has started fake coughing – only it’s definitely not to get attention. It’s because he is absolutely fascinated by the sound of his own voice.

For a number of weeks now, he’s been showing lots of interest in other people’s voices - and not only voices, but other mouth sounds. He loves listening to someone click their tongue, or whistle, or blow raspberries, or make a cork-popping noise. But now he’s discovering that he can make all kinds of different noises himself. We often wake up in the morning to the sound of Ryan cooing in his crib, but lately it sounds more like he’s experimenting with his voice. He’s like a mockingbird: he goes through his entire repertoire (fake cough, laugh, “wwooOOooww”, soft hum, loud hum, wolf whistle, giggle), pauses for a moment, then goes through it all again.

He also loves it when you echo him. We were at my mom’s yesterday and the two of them spent lots of time making funny noises back and forth at each other (honestly, I’m not quite sure who was imitating whom). Ryan was in fine form, doing not only the fake cough but the combination cough-laugh, the Woody Woodpecker snicker, and even the Elmer Fudd chuckle, plus several unidentified vowel sounds and the occasional moan.

But above and beyond the sound of his own voice, he loves any sounds he can make with his hands and feet. He’s discovered that scrunching paper makes a lovely crinkling noise and will help himself to my grocery list or the church bulletin any other unguarded piece of paper I have in my hand.

Preparing to pounce on Mummy's wrapping paper

He has several toys with crinkly ears or squeakers that he loves to play with. Yesterday my mom gave him a favorite toy of mine as a baby, a set of stacking rings that rings a bell each time you slide a ring onto the pole. He couldn’t manage sliding the rings, but he had a wonderful time shaking and jiggling the toy so the bell would ring! And just this morning he discovered that Daddy had put a new stack of diapers on the changing table and left them in the plastic sleeve – ooh, what a wonderful crinkly noise THOSE can make!

The world is full of wonderful noises for him to discover. I can hardly wait until he discovers the piano and the guitar in the living room!

Is There An Echo In Here?

Ryan is starting to reach that delightful stage of discovering his own voice. He coos, he giggles, he grunts, he snorts, he "sings", he makes noises that there aren't even words for. But he's always making sounds. And I find myself constantly imitating them. When he makes his werewolf "AhhooOOOOoohh" sound, I howl right back at him. When he makes his "mmmmMMMmmm" noise, I "mmmMMMmmm" in tandem with him. When he makes his fussy "mmmmm-ah!", I repeat it to him. Every sound he makes, I make too.

What is it with this compulsion to imitate a baby's noises? Wouldn't it make more sense to respond to him with English words, perhaps words similar to the sound he's making? When he says "mmmmm-ah", shouldn't I be repeating "Mama" to him? Maybe. But that's no fun. It's much more fun echoing back his funny little inflections and secret language. It's fascinating to try to get inside his head and figure out why he's making those noises. Does it feel good in his mouth? Is he imitating sounds he's heard me make? Is he even aware that he's the one making the noises he hears? And when I imitate him, is he aware that I'm repeating the sounds he's just made?

There are so many times that I'd love to know what's going on inside his head. Everything around him is so new, I'm sure there's a lot I take for granted that he's either unaware of or just noticing for the first time. I'd love to know what new sounds make him think, I'd love to understand the progression of thoughts in his head as he puts ideas together. Making the connection that moving his lips and tongue and throat in a certain way produces the sound he's hearing is really an impressive cognitive leap, when you think about it. It's amazing that children are ever able to understand and recreate language.

I guess that's why it's a good thing that I repeat everything, because it gives him one more chance to understand and learn.

I guess that's why it's a good thing that I repeat everything, because it gives him one more chance to understand and learn.