What's that noise?

A few ways we manage to communicate with William:

He started when he was very young with a simple "nnn-G" or "mmm-MA!" He gradually added the traditional "da-da-da-da" and "ma-ma-ma-ma" to his repertoire, and occasionally the "ba-ba-ba-ba." But he's added a little complexity in the last few months.

One day I noticed William copy me as I inhaled quickly through my nose. So I started rapidly sniffing in and out like a dog panting through his nose. William looked up at me, squinted his nose, and did the same quick in-out "sniffsniffsniffsniff." I showed Mirjam when she got home. She loved it.

William can also click his tongue now, and if you start, he'll smile at you and join right in with his slow "click...click...click." He used to make a "brrrbrrr" noise with his lips. Now he stick his tongue out slightly between his teeth and blows a sort of slobbery, smiley "thhhbthhh."

Of course we encourage all of this. We're terrible.

Our favorite is in church when he sings along during the hymns. I set him on my lap, open the book and let him hold the sides, making sure he doesn't rip the pages out while he watches Mirjam conducting the music. I doesn't do words yet, just a simple "aaaah-ahhh." It seems as if he's unaware that he's even singing. He just does it to join in with everyone else.

On Easter Sunday we sang "All Creatures of Our God and King," and after each verse, I could hear William carry over for a second after the organ had stopped playing and everyone had stopped singing. Mirjam has to really control herself, standing in front of the entire congregation. I can't help but laugh, knowing that the rest of the congregation can hear him, too.

Sometimes I sing to him at home, and I catch him quietly moving his lower jaw up and down as if he were mouthing the words without making a sound. He's so adorable I could eat him up.