Paging Dr. Higgins, Dr. Henry Higgins

We think perhaps our baby girl may have been switched at birth. In reality, she is not our darling little girl, but the daughter of some displaced African bushmen who were inadvertently in our Midwestern town to give birth. And, WHY on earth would we suspect this? Because she's already practicing their native tongue.

OK, I may be exaggerating. Actually, she's just a budding dialectician. This week's language dujour is the Khoikhoi language of Africa, replete with various tongue clicks. It's the tongue clicks that she is practicing diligently. Go ahead, click your tongue at her, she'll click back.

Last week, she was a drama queen. She was practicing for her upcoming role of a young child suffering from consumption and she had the cough down. Cough, cough. Smile, break your heart, cough, cough, tongue thrust out, cough, cough. Someone call Scorsese and hold the Oscars... Mr. DeMille, she's preparing for her close up.

Actually, she's just learning to make new sounds. And each new thing requires LOTS of practice. In addition to sounds, she's learning different physical actions too. She's been rolling over for a couple of weeks now (budding gymnast), she can put her toes in her mouth (budding contortionist), and she's tried to stuff her entire little fist in her mouth (budding... OK let's not go there... she's just a baby!).

Why is it that the most mundane things are astounding when your child does them for the first time?