Finding her voice

When we got Rose's referral back in September, I noticed that the orphanage described her as being both "intense" and "easygoing." I wrote it off as a mistake, because aren't intense and easygoing sort of opposite personality characteristics? The first day we had her, she seemed very easygoing. She didn't cry when Ms. Tang handed her over to us, and she mostly just sat and observed, her big brown eyes open wide.

We didn't see the intense side of Rose until we got her home, where she's been a striver, reaching for toys, begging to be swung just a little bit higher, scooting herself over to the back door on her little butt so she can see the chickens. She also found that if she cried, someone would (almost always) come running to pick her up, so she started to work that angle too.

All that talking can wear a girl out.

But she didn't say much. We knew from the fact that she didn't recognize her name that people probably didn't talk to her that much. And then after her surgery, with her palate (mostly) closed and her eustachian tubes wide open, she could hear. And then the babbling began.

One day last week, I was driving around town. This poor baby drives around town for hours every day-- which is where the easygoing side comes in handy. I heard her squeak. That was new-- other than blowing raspberries and making an "i" sound, she didn't talk much at all. Pretty soon she was going "nanananana" and "mmmmmmm."

Our new favorite game has been to give meaning to everything Rose says.

If Maren's around, anything with an "m"-sound is Maren.

Obviously anything with an "n"-sound is Annie.

And she really does say "Mama" but I'm not deluding myself into thinking that she really means me. Okay, yes I am.

The other day, clear as day, she said "yummy" when I was feeding her a piece of banana cake.

If the word has an M or an N and a bunch of vowels, Rose can say it. Or at least we can add meaning to her sweet, nasally gibberish.

Two consonant sounds down, a couple dozen to go.

But I'm not that worried, the intense side of little Rosie is sure to kick in and pretty soon Bryce, Daddy, and Isaac will all be getting their due.