A twelfth thing that baby has taught me

Following up on a previous entry... You don't have a baby; you have a menagerie. Who would have imagined such an assortment of sounds coming from a newborn? I don't remember reading anything about all these sounds in the books before baby was born. I guess it might have helped if I'd read the books, but some things come much better as surprises. I do have a brother who is 11 years younger than I, and I don't remember him making so many sounds.

Our baby growls so much that I've nicknamed her orsechiotta, or "Little Bear".* My wife observed once that our baby's sighs resemble a donkey's brays. Just yesterday, baby baa'ed like a goat. Sometimes she squeaks like a mouse. Earlier today, she quacked like a duck — ah, there goes another quack.

I have not yet heard her moo, bark, or meowl, but by this point the only thing I'm sure I won't hear anytime soon is a word of human speech.

* My mother pointed out that the correct Italian is orsachiotta, but by then I had invested too much into orsechiotta to correct myself.