Lisa, you said in your post:

 In responding to a child's cry we teach them to comminicate
> their needs, to trust us to respond to them and to gain confidence that
>they
> are capable of communicating. It also tells the child, I trust you to tell
> me what you need. And most impotantly, you deserve to have your needs met.

I worked with a blind mother a couple of years ago.  What a learning
experience for this LC!!  Later, when baby was about 7 months old, I had
lunch with her.  As we talked at the table, Christopher was crawling about
the house.  Periodically mom would call out to him and he would answer in
"his" words. And he would call to her too.  She called, "Christopher, are
you on the stairs?"  He answered, "Mualleywamneejaey."

I asked her how she gets him to answer her when she calls, and she replied,
"I answer him when *he* calls."

This is IT, isn't it?

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee
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