To continue the topic from yesterday: the same chapter in Nurture Shock that says parents should respond immediately and frequently to their babies' first efforts to verbalize also says, don't overdo it. Don't respond so much that it drives the baby frantic. Give them some down time.
I see this in my son: there are times during the day when he's happiest just lying around vegetating, munching on a piece of soft toast, for instance, or halfheartedly tearing apart a section of the newspaper. And I can't say that he's making dramatic efforts to verbalize at this point. He has a few cute sounds in his repertoire--perhaps the best one is a throaty "YEAH" that comes out when he's both pleased and excited. He's not repeating syllables yet, as they say many babies are doing by his age.
On the other hand--he communicates up a storm in other ways. And he's definitely listening. I'm already using some of the techniques for communication discussed in the book, such as dancing an object in front of him and repeating the word for it several times and with different intonations. And he seems intrigued by my efforts, offering me a curious, smiling look as if to say, "Who is this delightful idiot that I have for a parent?"
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