"Mama, nnn-hnnng-rmm!"

"Mama, ah-poo ah wah woom?"

Gabriel talks to me like this all the time but I haven't for the life of me been able to decipher what he's trying to say. He says these earnestly, looking into my eye, clutching my hand, pointing at the sky. He says these first thing in the morning when he first opens his eyes, in response to my usual greeting of "Good morning, sweetheart!" He says these before he falls asleep for the night, snuggling into my neck and tickling my ears with his pinky. 

I must admit, I have been getting worried about his speech development. 18 months and still babbling in Baby, nowhere near forming proper simple sentences. Yes, he can communicate with his small vocabulary of one-word item names but they still sound more Baby than like regular words. "Ah-poo" is probably the closest we get to "Apple"; "Mak Mak" to "Milk"; "Nana" to "Banana". 

I've been guilty of comparing Gabriel's speech development to other children of his age, and I've been so alarmed to find that he's on the slow side, comparatively. I've had friends whose kids were speaking in simple two-word sentences at 18 months - while my son can't even make out decent single-words for most things. I start to panic: is he developmentally challenged? Does he have a speech delay? Should I take him to a speech therapist?

The husband tells me not to worry. He's communicating, is he not? And he understands us quite perfectly when we ask him to do things (although he mysteriously pretends to not understand when we tell him not to do something...)

And yet, the over-worried mama in me can't help but wait anxiously for his first proper sentence. I told him last night before we slept that mama loves to listen to him speak, and to keep talking to mama even if mama doesn't understand right away. He seems to have understood what I said, cos he keeps babbling in Baby today. A part of me finds it really adorable and wants to savour and treasure this transition phase for just a while longer, because really, in the larger scheme of things, he'll have the rest of his life to speak properly and only this fleeting window where he can speak so earnestly in Baby and be forgiven for babbling what may seem like silly nonsense. 

Maybe, I shouldn't hurry my baby into growing up too quickly. He'll talk when he's ready, there's plenty of time to grow up. He tries his best, he says something in Baby and looks at me expectantly, he lights up like a happy lightbulb when I just pretend to know what he's saying and respond in proper speech, he asks me to clap for him when he speaks a phrase in Baby and squeals in sheer delight when I praise him for trying. 

So for a while more, mama will not worry, mama will not hurry. You are doing good, kiddo, and mama couldn't be prouder of you. 

"Gabey, mama nnnn-hrng-ga-woo!"