New skills

Everyone tells us that Jacob is a prodigy, and though I personally have no frame of reference. Flora and I tend to agree. These days he is showing particular strides forward in the fields of grasping and chatting. We are pleased to say that little J is showing himself to be a very grasping little chap. Recently we have been thrusting things into his hand, delighted to discover that he noticed the object and tried to manipulated it. And all of a sudden, a couple of days ago, the sparkly belt that was lying in his lap was in his hand. He can also push things into his mouth (though that particular feat requires a little more practice).

As for vocal skills, he is developing a very chatty habit - including a smaller cousin of the Mary Kindy shriek, which he likes to throw out from time to time. The book about baby language says that it is difficult to tell when random sounds turn into actual words. Well, we feel no such ambiguity. At only 3 months, Jacob is able to express himself on a wide range of subjects. For example, he is already developing an interest in world music - the singer he most talks about being the velvet-voiced Persian diva "Googoosh". For one who feeds only on milk, he has a particularly wide range of food-related vocabulary. Often, when Flora and I are talking about something quite different, Jacob will pipe up and introduce clarified butter into the conversation, "ghee", he will say, "ghee". Another food he will often talk about is "egg". And with a peculiar twist for one so young, he has developed a rather archaic form of affirmation: "Aye". He says that quite a lot.