She might not move around too much, but Siena is at the very least a chatty baby. Her favorite word, which I suspect is natural for most babies since it’s so easy to say, is “da” (take that, mom!). Siena adds a little twist to it, though, and by far the most common phrase she utters is “ha-da” (accent on the ha). We’re not sure why or how that “ha” got into the mix, but there it is front and center.

Dog just walked into the room? Ha-da. Evil kitty jumping on good kitty? Ha-da. Yummy food? Haa-da haa-da haa-da.

Not counting her giggle, sigh, babblings in bed, cries, and grunts, Siena does know a couple of other sounds, probably mostly by accident. These include: “ba,” “fa” (heard that a few times), and “ta” (heard several times when held close to one of the cats).

Whenever the dog is around we say “dog. dog. dog.” to her, and likewise with the cats, it’s all “cat. cat. cat.” So the “ta” was pretty revolutionary, because we think she was actually trying to repeat what we’ve said around the cats.

I’m hoping she’ll master the “mmm” sound soon so we can get on to “ma ma.” And some other vowels would sure be nice. But we’ll take the little bits of progress wherever we can get them. And frankly, the sigh after the giggle is just about the best noise on earth.

Baby, don’t you know that I’m lovin’ you?