Baby Babble

When Becca was smaller she would lay in her bed in the mornings and just babble to herself. David and I would wake up to the sound of her sweet little voice as we heard it through the moniter. It was so cute.

Lizzie, on the other hand, does not have access to her vocal chords until I put a special valve on the end of her trach to allow her to speak. I've really missed hearing the sweet sounds of her little voice through her moniter in the mornings. Lizzie is also pretty speech delayed due to the decreased opportunity she has to practice talking.

However, she is a smart little girl, and she has done a really good job of picking up on sign language. She has about 8 or so words she can sign. They are mommy, daddy, more, please, eat, bird, music, her version of "I love you" and "wash hands" and "praise the Lord". She also points a lot for us to tell her the names of things. There are a few other word signs we are working on like thank you, dog, and help. And all of those are in addition to clapping, folding her hands to pray, pretending to suction our "trach" or feeding us a bottle, tickling us or herself, playing peek-a-boo, and blowing kisses.

Then yesterday afternoon I was sitting on the floor with both girls to play with them. Lizzie suddenly turns to me, holds out her arms, and starts randomly but intentionally wiggling her fingers and hands around. It was sign language baby babble! I wanted to cry. It didn't need a voice. It was music to my heart.