kidding myself

Before I had my baby I was a bit worried about how I would go with babytalk, since I've never had much to do with babies before. I thought I'd feel kind of silly. But it's amazing how instinctive it is--it seems you just know how to talk to your baby. You automatically simplify everything: "give Mama" and "Mama give", "Harley hold bottle", "Harley want yumyums?", "Harley go sleepies", "Harley go poosies?", "Harley clever!" and so on. You echo with exaggerated astonishment every sound your baby makes. It seems when he's tired or grizzly his entire 'vocabulary' gets a run. What is really just a long stretch of meaningless sounds gets cut into little chunks that he thinks are words, and he copies my intonations and emphases. "Agaa agoo arra arreee, alla alloooo alleeee, abaa aboof agoof agooooo!" he complains. (The way he so beautifully rolls his "r"s is surely due to his Italian blood...) And the two of you talk this way and somehow understand each other perfectly. It's gorgeous.
In other Harley news, he now has his first two bottom teeth, is eating pretty much whatever I eat (blander versions, of course), and is exclusively sleeping in his cot. Woo-hoo! I am quite proud of this achievement, since I wagged sleep school--I was supposed to go in September but sort of baulked at the idea of giving Harley such an early taste of being institutionalised (kidding). Actually I just couldn't face the idea of five days of crying and screaming. I figured the time would come when he was ready and it did.
So I've got my bed all to myself again. I guess I'll have to find someone else to share it with.