Mina-san,
I'm just coming to the end of the Newbie Lessons and am also just on the verge of becoming a new mom next month. I'm determined to keep going with my Japanese studies (I LOVE JPOD 101!!!), even though I'll have to modify my methods significantly over these next months in light of the upcoming event. The key for me is going to keep in regular contact with the language, and I've been putting a few things in place in order to do that (such as collecting children's picture books and games in Japanese, for example, which as been a lot of fun and a great source of motivation). Anyway, as I have been thinking about all of this, I became curious about expressions that might be used in Japanese to talk to or about babies and young children. If anyone knows some fun, endearing, or sweet expressions, I would love to read about them. Thanks!