The newest edition to our extended family has started cooing. He’s just over two months old. Right on track, according to the baby development guidelines. (We’ve already high aspirations for other milestones).
Sounds like a happy pigeon, his mother says. And fortuitously, pigeons are considered lucky messengers in some cultures. I’m waiting to see what happy message he might bring to our family.
Baby research points to cooing being an integral part of a child’s self-awareness and the beginning of language. It’s said that a coo may be a response to a parent’s gaze and connection, or the sound of contentment, or even an attempt at speech.
I feel privileged to be right at this pivotal moment in our little one’s existence when he is about to embark on a life’s journey of language and communication. I think about the joys, the missteps, the mistakes, the power, the sadness and the thrill that language can impart. Language as a weapon, the language of love, seduction, meanness, entrapment, captivation, gentleness, callousness, protest or peace-making. Language to communicate complex thoughts or simple ideas.
And this little one is right at the very start of all that, making coos with his mouth and his voice.
I wish for him all manner of language, bound to strength and humility, kindness and truth. The ability to fight with wit, and balance with humour, as well as to use his sound as an expression of identity and individuality.
I can’t wait to listen.
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