Photo of the Day: Baby Talk

Canon Rebel EOS 35mm | Film: Fuji Provia ISO 100 | Lens: Unknown | Setting: Definitely Unknown

Chloe at just a few weeks old, always loves a song. Even on the beach in Mexico.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word / Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird..."

Chloe has rediscovered a book of nursery rhymes and lullabyes; she's 2-1/2 years old now.  I've always enjoyed reading and singing to her, but it's especially fun to hear her ask for her favorites by name now. Sometimes I forget what it was like when she wasn't able to converse with us. She'll sing along now, and even correct me if I get off by a verse ("no, mama, it's not the horse and cart.  It's the Dog named Whoa-ver...").  Hmmm...aren't there times I wish she was a little less gifted in the art of gabbing?  Although, we never had a chance for her not to turn out as a little babbler.  From the time of her birth she has been talked to by her grandmas and me. And I didn't realize that not every family talks to babies like that.  Thinking back, I wonder what I talked to her about day in and day out?

It makes me realize that one unintended consequence of traveling with small children is that it opens up new experiences for you to talk about to your baby. And gives you more down time to devote to talking to her. It may look a little silly, talking to an opinionless, big-eyed infant, but it is worth it's weight in college tuition.  Even the littlest babies are picking up words, sentence structure, and the flow of conversation from hearing your voices.  And, the trick is, it has to be real people doing the talking for them to benefit.  Conversations on videos or television, no matter how educational or well-marketed, don't give the same result as parents talking.

I know in our house, the week gets by and I realize that I haven't had a good conversation with Mark in...too many days. The rut of mundane weekly activities seems to murder the creative side of our brains. You know the schedule: Get up...feed baby...chores...go to work/care for baby...come home...hold and play with baby...eat...bath-and-bedtime...sleep...repeat. A break from that is good- I'd say necessary- for the whole family. Sometimes Mark and I get on the I-10 to leave town, and not 25 minutes after getting out of Chandler we've already had 3 more real conversations than we would have sitting around our family room.

Your children (even infants) benefit from hearing you talk on the road as well. It provides them the security that your family enjoys spending time together. They are picking up concepts and vocabulary involving measurement (near/far/miles/kilometers/right/left) and geography. The more new sights and experiences they have, the more of a head start they get for a lifetime of learning. I'm glad we took Chloe on a few trips as an infant, even though it was a lot to prepare and we (I) worried more with a baby along. It was worth it for how much she has learned already as a 2-year-seven-month old. And even now, she loves cozying up to us to look at the picture books of Chloe from our travel adventures together as a family.  See, it's all just giving us more to talk about.