Georgia "Talks"

About a month ago, Georgia began making noises, gabbering and "talking" both to herself and to us. Each day she seems to increase her noises, to the point now that Nathan and I joke that she has a talking "quota" that she has to meet each day! At night, when Nathan and I sing to her before she goes to bed, if she has not talked a lot that day she will "sing" along:-) (She is a female, and everyone knows that girls talk more!) Right now, there are three different sounds/noises that she regularly makes:

The Give-Up Sigh
This is not Georgia's attempt at talking, but rather is a noise that she makes as she is falling asleep. After Georgia has nodded off and gotten quiet, she releases a huge sigh, like the weight of the world is on her, and she just can't go on. That is when we know that she is truly asleep!

Georgia's Love Song to Her Boyfriend
Like many infants, ceiling fans and light fixtures fascinate Georgia. She loves to stare endlessly at lights--and the more unusual/fancy, the better. Her favorite light fixture is the fan in our living room. A few weeks ago, we began to notice a pattern. Georgia likes to sit with her daddy in his rocking chair, leaned up against his left arm so she can get a good look at our ceiling fan. Once settled, she begins to talk...and talk...and talk, all the while looking at the ceiling fan. We call the fan "her boyfriend", and her noises are the love song she sings.

Custer's Last Stand
Georgia's nighttime ritual involves her mommy and daddy praying for her and singing her a hymn before swaddling her and putting her down. After she has been swaddled, I sit in our rocking chair and rock her briefly (usually long enough to sing another song) and then put her in her crib. Many nights Georgia gets a little fussy when she realizes it is bedtime, but then she relaxes and calms down...or so I think. Once she has lulled me into a false sense of peace, she lets out a blood-curdling, body twisting wail as she fights the blanket, fights me, fights sleep. It is one of those noises that sounds like the beginning of the ultimate melt-down, and inevitably I think "It's going to be a long night." But it isn't! Once she briefly lets out her wails and wiggles, she promptly falls asleep, and offers a Give Up Sigh. I dubbed this wailing "Custer's Last Stand" because it appears to be her one last fight against sleep--it is sudden, it is loud, it is painful, and just as soon as it appears, it is over and she is asleep.

Georgia is now over three months old, and it is amazing to see her personality develop, and to grow more confident as a parent in reading her moods and needs! Nathan and I are so grateful for God blessing us with Georgia girl, and we cannot wait to see what new sounds and habits she will develop!