In her endeavor to learn to talk, Lillian has discovered that she doesn't have to open her mouth—she can still make noise with it closed. This leads to a variety of outcomes: the sound /m/, talking through her nose/humming, and the ability to express pleasure when eating ("Mmmmm!" [1] and "Yummy!"). I'm not sure whether she's really figured out the last one, but she does seem to hum more often when we're feeding her solid food—though that could just be wishful thinking. But she certainly does like to hum/sing when she's happy. And squeal.
She hums such sweet little songs.
Notes:
[1] According to the OED, "Mmm" can be also be used as an interjection, making it interchangeable with other hummed/murmured hesitation words "ahem"*, "erm", "hem"*, "h'm"*, "hmm", "hum"*, "um", etc., and their derivative non-hummed hesitation words ("ah", "uh", "er", etc.). (See Oxford English Dictionary, mm, int. (and n.), def. 2.) *Note that these are phonetic representations of clearing one's throat and originally weren't meant to be words.
She hums such sweet little songs.
Notes:
[1] According to the OED, "Mmm" can be also be used as an interjection, making it interchangeable with other hummed/murmured hesitation words "ahem"*, "erm", "hem"*, "h'm"*, "hmm", "hum"*, "um", etc., and their derivative non-hummed hesitation words ("ah", "uh", "er", etc.). (See Oxford English Dictionary, mm, int. (and n.), def. 2.) *Note that these are phonetic representations of clearing one's throat and originally weren't meant to be words.
It looks like her hair is getting thicker. A little blondie!
ReplyDelete