V is for Vocal: Infants and Toddlers Edition

From the beginning of their lives, babies give us clear, vocal messages that their bodies and minds need us. And we, loving adults, respond. We feed them, keep them clean and warm, rock them and gaze into their eyes with love. Soon, they develop differentiated cries that we begin to interpret: one cry for hunger, and another for fatigue, a different cry for pain or boredom, and another for feeling too hot or cold. Our response teaches them to trust us, and that their voice matters and sparks change. From this, words and phrases come, and eventually full sentences, conversations and powerful toddler demands that tell us: I want! I need! I love! I feel! Notice me