BRACK and WOOH

For the past few weeks, baby K has been saying "BRACK" a lot. M and I would look at each other in puzzlement, wondering where that word came from and what it meant. Was it something her Russian caregiver taught her? Was that her version of saying mama and dada? Was she trying to tell us hi? We had no idea.

Eventually, M figured out that baby K was trying to say "Where are you?" For months now, M has been saying "Where are you?" while playing with baby K. He'd say it whenever I'm out of the room in an attempt to get baby K to look for me, or would yell it out when he's in another room himself. Now we realize that when we ask "Where are you?," baby K imitates us with "BRACK." She's made some progress though. The "BRACK" has evolved into "BREAR" and even into "WHERE" once in a while. Next steps: all we have to do is teach her "ARE" and "YOU." Funny how these will probably be the first real words out of her mouth instead of "mama" and "dada." (Although to give her credit, she does say dada and mama... I just don't know if she connects it to M and me at this point.)

We've also been trying to get baby K to associate words with objects. Since Winnie the Pooh is plastered all over her room, we always ask her where's Pooh, and then point to the picture of Pooh on her wall. She's started copying us, but would say "Wooh" instead of "Pooh." Normal parents teach their kids simple (and perhaps more significant) things like mommy and daddy. But are we normal? Of course not! We have to start with words like "Where are you?" and "Pooh!"