Burnett___Family-O-Rama

Hello friends,
Or should I say "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" the way I often do to folks at church or Hy-vee? (What an appropriately named store!) My Baba says I greet people like a southern belle coming out at her first cotillion (whatever that means!).
Anyway, I thought I ought to write to tell you about how my parents are progressing with their little "speech" project. It's SO cute.
They frequently speak words clearly to me, often pointing at objects, and obviously expecting me to parrot back what they are saying. Please! I speak whenever I am ready to and not on command!
As a matter of fact, just to have fun with them, I occasionally will speak a word, very clearly, just once. They have to turn to each other to confirm that I actually said something, but then I just don't repeat it no matter what they do. It drives them nuts! Words I have spoken (besides the standard "Mama," "Baba," and "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii") are "giraffe," "booger," "go ahead," "duck," "outside," and "Jesus." I also gave them a clear "amen" one night when Baba's before-dinner prayer was getting a bit too long. I was hungry!
I do go ahead with the bits of sign language they've taught me--please, thank you, juice (boy does that one come in handy!). But frankly, I'm more interested in tones than all these words, words, words. Here's my Baba "singing" me a book about the notes of the scale--it is one of my all time favorites!
I was glad to hear that many of my friends from China are playing the same "say a word only once and watch your parents contort themselves" game. We stay in touch with those in our travel group through a website. Although Mama rarely lets me do the typing!
There are certainly moments when I'm starting to wonder if my little game is worth it.
Often now, I am trying to get them to see something I want (need!) and they just don't get it! I suppose I'll have to start actually naming things to get my message across. I point and say "uh" in a very clear way, but so often, they just don't seem to get it. They say the first thing to go when you become parents is the brain.
Of course, I understand what they are saying to me. Actually a LOT more than they think. Boy, when I do decide to start talking, won't I make their lives interesting!
Still, there are so many things that can't be put into words. Deep things that only babies know about. That's why we get those little secret smiles sometimes. We remember things that you start to forget as you grow older and start talking. Things like . . .




(wouldn't you like to know!)