Over the last couple of days Mayuki has started “talking” a lot more. Indeed, as I type this she’s carrying on a one-sided conversation with Yuriko in the next room. She had a period a few weeks ago when she made a lot of noise, but then she went quiet again. That phase also seems to be over now. She’s still not very good at consonants, but she has a good range of vowels, and I think she tries to imitate me when I make vowel sounds at her. She’s not very good at it yet, but there do seem to be differences between her default sounds and what she says after I say “OOOoooOOOooo” to her.
One advantage is that it seems to have reduced the amount she cries. When she wants attention, she calls for us first, and keeps that up for quite a while before she actually starts crying. We can take advantage of the warning to get to a suitable stopping point with whatever we are doing before going to see her. I do try to get to her before she actually starts crying; that way, she might decide that just calling is enough. The other advantage is that, although she sometimes stops crying instantly when given attention, it sometimes takes a little while, whereas if she’s just calling she’s immediately ready to play or whatever.
It will, of course, get even easier when she can manage words.
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