New words

Phoebe's language development has started to improve exponentially. Last week she could say mom, dad, bye and sign puppy, hat, cat, bird, and bye. As of yesterday, she could say mom, dad, bye, pretty, puppy, kisses, belly (for belly button), and sign puppy, cat, hat, bird, fish, more, drink, elephant, pig, baby, and love. It is so funny to watch her learn new signs. We'll sit and read a book together and I will show her the new sign for something. She carefully watches and after a few times will start moving her hands in an approximation of the sign. She normally won't make the sign right away, but will suddenly make the sign a day later or the next time she sees the book. She has really caught on to the idea that she can find new examples of the objects too--a new picture of a puppy in a book, or objects that look similar to what she has learned from books. For example, this morning she looked at me and signed "elephant". I looked to see what she was looking at and it was a stuffed pig that can have a bottle inside--it looked like an elephant because the nose was so big. I signed "pig" and gave it to her and she was really happy, signing pig over and over.

When she first starts making the sign, it is often just an approximation of the "right" sign. She gradually improves the sign. The funniest right now is elephant. The "real" sign for elepant is the hand sweeping down from your nose like a trunk. I didn't know that and was just wiggling my finger by my nose. She would try and put her finger to her nose, but found that difficult. At some point, she started pursing her lips up--maybe to help her feel where her nose was? or to mimic the noise I was making? Suddenly, that was her elephant sign. If we say elephant, she immediately purses her lips up and looks like she's trying to do the bitter beer face!

Nothing was as exciting for her as learning "more" though! "More" is used to indicate more food/drink--whatever. When she finally caught on, she started using it constantly. She loves being able to tell us she wants something. She points at the object and signs "more". Certain signs are always accompanied by the sound of the word too--More is a "mo" sound. The cutest sounds are "pretty" and "kisses"--pretty is the full word, but very quiet (pree-tt). She uses it for lots of things-flowers, jewelry, colors. It still surprises me when she will suddenly point and say, "pretty"--I have to look and figure out. The first time she pointed to one of my rings and said pretty I was so surprised since it had always just meant flowers before. She just started the kisses--she makes the "MMMmmm" sound that accompanies the kiss and points to what she wants you to kiss. She makes "lovey" noises too to rock her babies--stuffed bears, kangaroos, or baby dolls.


  ¶ 10:14 AM