Lennie’s on the verge of saying “da da.” A couple of months ago, we thought she was going to be an early talker. When I’d bend over her while changing her diaper and coo “hello,” she would often coo back without proper pronunciation but with just about the right intonation. She also had started exploring the real estate of her mouth. I was sure she’d have a word or two by now. In just the last couple of days, she’s started articulating a lot more in her babbling. She warms up with some bah bah bahs and then rolls her tongue back a little to add in a hint of ell. As her tongue rolls further back, her lips come apart and she articulates a sound sort of between a bah and a dah with an ell still tucked in there. Sometimes it sounds very much as if she’s saying da da. I know better than to think she’s really trying to call me by the name I recite to her a few hundred times a day, but it’s a step in the right direction.