Yes!

Sophia is a thumb sucker. She loved sucking the thumb long before we took the pacifier away and we were okay with that. It remained a convenient way to comfort herself mostly at bedtime and it never interrupted her willingness to make all sorts of baby noises and chatter.

In recent weeks, however, she began asking for things such as more food, a new activity or another song before bedtime by keeping the thumb in her mouth and going: hmmm. hmmm. hmmm.

My husband and I decided we needed to break the habit early. We want her to get used to the idea early that she needs to tell us what she needs. Now of course we realize she only has a few simple words that she knows and can't form sentences yet but it's all about forming good habits now.

So when she started doing this hmmmm noise with her thumb in the mouth — mostly for more food — we began saying to her, "tell us what you'd like Sophia. Would you like more Cheerios (etc.)? Yes?"

One day, shortly before New Year's Eve, she repeated yes when we asked her. It started out as a "shesh." But now she says yes fairly clearly when we ask her if she would like more food, to get out of the high chair, another song before bedtime.

It's a small start to her communicating with us, and we're glad we're not hearing the word no just yet.