enunciation

54. bottle


55. cracker


56. Moon (by which he means not the celestial body but the book Goodnight Moon)

For months I've been showing Benjamin different bottles at the table, enunciating "bottle" as I show him each one. The best he's been able to do is point and say "buh!"

The other night, I said "bottle" and he said "ba!"

"Bottle," I said. He said, "Bot?"

"Yes! Bottle!"

"Ba-tuh?"

"Very good! Bot-tle."

"Bottle," he said, pronouncing all 3 consonants. We were elated.

He is doing a similarly good job now with "cracker" and "Moon" — which I write with an initial capital because for Benjamin, "Moon" is a bedtime book, and not the moon to which we say "good night" inside that book. What you and I would think of as the moon outside the window he calls "ball." Makes sense.

- papa