Speech: not so much

So our weekly e-mail from BabyCenter says that Zozo should have a few words now, and will start making small, two-word sentences. "No more." "All done." That sort of thing. And she'll start to refer to herself in the third person. "Zozo all done."

Not so much with our little one.

She has a couple words. Dad. Mom. Light. Well, it's not quite light, but we know that it's her sound for "light." Apparently Zoe is going to talk on her own schedule, just like she walked when she was ready and not a moment before.

So far our conversations go like this:

Z: Mama
A: Zozo
Z: Maaaaamaaaaa
A: Zooooozoooooo
Z: Mom
A: Zo
Z: Maaaaaaaaaama
A: Zooooooooooozo
Z: Mamaaaaaaaaa
A: Zozoooooooooo

Repeat ad nauseum.

Someone told me, "No one ever went to college in diapers, and they all learn how to talk eventually." Yeah yeah. Other people tell me, "Just wait until she starts talking. She won't shut up and you'll wish she never started." Uh huh. I've also heard that we're not helping her by deciphering her grunts and not "forcing" her to talk. Whatever.

I figure it's a good thing that, as her mother, I can tell the difference between her grunt that says, "Look! The moon!" and her grunt that says, "I'm quite parched and would like to partake of a chilled beverage, please."

It helps that she points when she grunts.