The Secret Language of Babies

According to an expert on the Oprah show, our baby is already speaking to us. This is from Oprah.com:

After testing her baby language theory on more than 1,000 infants around the world, Priscilla says there are five words that all babies 0–3 months old say—regardless of race and culture:

Neh="I'm hungry"
Owh="I'm sleepy"
Heh="I'm experiencing discomfort"
Eair="I have lower gas"
Eh="I need to burp"

Mrs. U was kind enough to Tivo this, so I saw the segment on Oprah yesterday after I got home from work and changed into a clean t-shirt. Immediately, I heard him say "eh, eh, eh".

I was quick to apply my new Oprah-knowledge. "Ooooh. That must mean you need to burp. OK. Let's just put you here on my shoulder up against this freshly-laundered t-shirt and pat your back once, twice...." My new understanding of Undaling vocabulary was quickly rewarded with a generous dolyp of baby vomit. I guess the lady on Oprah was right.

So far, my daily ritual of holding him and repeating saying "dadadadadada" has not resulted in him saying "Da-Da". It turns out that his response to this is usually "Eair", followed by "Eh". Say what you will, we're still having a conversation. Now that I can translate his part, our conversation looks something like this:

Me: Dadadadada. I'm going to keep saying things that start with "D", so that your first accidental word is Da-da. Can you say something back that starts with a "D"? Come on, kid. It doesn't matter what you actually mean, I will take any "D" word to mean "Hi, Dad. You're the best."

Undaling: Hi Dad, I have lower gas.

Me: Dadadadada. It feels so good to say it. You should try it. Can you say dadadada?

Undaling: I need to burp.

Me: Let me grab a towel.

(Footnote: Even though the expert says this applies to all races and cultures, I'm pretty sure "eh" means something else to Canadian babies.)