Pitter patter: Chatterbabe

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
18 July 2004

De La Salle, Cronulla, just keeps on giving

Row rages over TV doco on abortion

Christian Brothers won’t quit schools

Afternoon tea for Cardinal

State aid challenge ‘a waste of time, money’

Pope’s condolences

Appeal for information on Changi priests

Prior re-elected

Pitter patter: Chatterbabe

‘Festival’ became Catalyst for Renewal

Stability of marriage ‘is crucial to society’

Cardinal’s Comment: Honesty – it will always be the best policy

Editorial: Sure to shock

Letters: Great joy

Conversation: Matthew Hayden, Test cricketer and man of faith - When I’m in trouble, I ask: ‘What would Christ do?’

St Vincent de Paul: Future care of frail, aged

‘Grave obstacle’ to peace

‘Time of grief’ when abortion documentary airs on ABC

Church in Papua New Guinea looks to stand alone as a self-reliant entity

Aunt would have been ‘delighted’

Any food for the orphans?

Assisi turned Marilla to song

Early Mozart in Latin for ACO

Bars no barrier to the message of the Gospel

Green, green grass of ...

Pitter patter: Chatterbabe

Marilyn Rodrigues, one of our journalists, has recently given birth to her first child. As we followed the progress of her pregnancy in Pregnant pause, so we now follow the family’s life with baby Naomi Thérèse in this new diary.

Naomi has found her voice and she likes the sound of it. It’s amazing that while she can’t form words or sound consonants, she obeys the back-and-forth structure of a conversation, i.e. you say something and I say something and we both expect an answer.

It’s enough to melt the conviction of the most fervent critic of adults who indulge in baby talk (formerly me).

Our baby talk is getting pretty good. I can even blow bubbles as Naomi can. The secret is to get a fair bit of spit up first. I find that I get the best reaction if I manage to make bubbles and mimic her talking noises at the same time.

She communicates her mood by the tone in her voice. If she’s unhappy, she mightn’t cry straight away but will whine and carry on in much the same tone as a four-year-old would.

Boy, can she talk. Suddenly one day she did it all the time – from the moment she woke up and her happy chatterings carried to where I was in the kitchen to her bedtime when she cooed quietly while gazing up at me.

Thank you for visiting the Catholic Weekly Online. To read this article in full, please subscribe to the print edition, or buy the paper for $1 at your local NSW Catholic church. Click here to email comments to the editor.