saying words before she can talk

Babies of course make all sorts of random noises, and occasionally those noises match up with what could be construed as a word.

At 3 weeks old, she said "yes." Or a version of it, anyway. :P We were visiting out of town family, and one of my aunts was holding her, but Lydia was getting a little tired and hungry and was fussing. My aunt asked her if she wanted her mama, and in the middle of Lydia's fussing, she said a very clear "uh huh."

Then pretty much nothing until the past month or so. At church about 5 weeks or so ago, hubby was holding her and she looked at him and said "da da", only it came out more like "duh duh." She hasn't done that since, though, so we're not counting that yet. She's also said "ma ma" similarly, but I'm not counting that either, b/c it's usually not just "ma ma", but instead "mum mum mum mum mum."

After I feed her, I hold her and ask her if she needs to burp. Usually she still does, even at her ripe old age. She'll talk a bit before the burp comes up, and one time I had just asked her if she needed to, and she said "Bup." But it was more like "Buh - puh." where the second syllable was just a puff of air.

Changing subjects now briefly, when she was just a few weeks old I was getting nervous because I thought it was taking an awfully long time to "bond" with her, despite my having a drug-free birth and breastfeeding right away and staying with her all the time, all of which are supposedly supposed to help enhance the bonding process. But, it has indeed been a process and not something that happened instantly or even very quickly. Now, though, I have no doubt that I've bonded with her. The way she looks at me, the smiles we share, the sweet songs that she sings and squeaks, the learning I can see through her eyes, the touch of her little hands... all these and more just make me want to melt or burst or laugh or cry or squeeze her or kiss her or just sit and enjoy watching her... or everything at once. It's so amazing being a mom.