Peggy is 3 months old today; 13 weeks tomorrow. Gretchen has been making noises at Peggy for quite a while. Her favorite seems to be a drawn-out /kI/ with a moist tongue so that a slight bubbling sound is added. Within the past 7 – 10 days Peggy has been repeating the sound after Gretchen. She has spontaneously been complaining with /ngae/ for over 4 weeks. Over the few days, I heard her say /dae/ and Miriam remarked /gi/. (and just now /gae/).. Gretchen noted a sound she trouble describing – but offered “sort of a cross between /d/ and /th/.” Her imitation sounded to me like an aspirated /d/. (/dh/?)

The speech Peggy is subject to [is] the kind that we pretend she can understand. For example, Miriam went over with a new toy rabbit and said, “Peggy, wanta feel my new bunny?’ then put the rabbit in her hand. Gretchen talks in short sentences or long phrases, sometimes making cheerful noises. When Peggy makes noises, Gretchen responds as if Peggy were attempting to speak meaningfully to her. My speech is rare for I usually sing or chant the bouncing rhymes. Usually I sing quiet songs that I like (such as “Windmills” by Alan Bell) but last night to Peggy’s great delight, I broke out in varied choruses of the Dixieland classic “A Closer Walk with Thee” with all sorts of sounds, each continuing for at least a complete musical phrase. Peggy was especially pleased by the plosives, the la-la-la’s, and the /ch/ sounds.