The first time Nate spoke to me: Written by Nonny

This past weekend,when Crista, Eric, and Nate were visiting for a glorious five days, Nate spoke to me. Now, I had seen Nate sign words and more recently, actually say words. Many of these times the speaking had been a response for a request to "bandstand" for us. For example, we would go, "what does an owl say," and Nate would intelligently respond with something that sounds like "who cooks for you!" Or we would say, "say hi," and Nate would shyly say in a little voice, "hi." But on Saturday night, he actually spoke to me, completely unprompted.I was getting him ready to go to bed by rocking him and singing to him. Foolishly, I thought any song would do. I began singing practice pieces from the choir I sing in. At one point, I sleepily lapsed into "la,la,la" when I heard a little voice slowly and quietly say, "luga, luga." Suddenly I got it. He wanted me to sing Baby Beluga! So I quickly switched into a much more formal singing mode and broke into Baby Beluga. Every once in a while, Nate would join in. Perhaps it was just my own vanity, but I had the sense he was thinking, "Gosh my Nonny is smart. She understands me and can sing any song I ask of her!" I hope this is just the beginning on many long conversations with my grandbean!

(Nate and my mom, "Nonny")