Words

While they might not all be words as we would say them, Kayley definitely has some sounds that are distinct for certain things. I think I’ve mentioned before that she say “hi” and “uh-oh” for what we use them for. But “hi” is much more than this currently. It also means “here, take this,” “can I have that over there?” and “I want what you have.” Most the time when used in one of these three ways it is also accompanied by the sign for please, so at least she’s being polite about it. ^_~

Kayley has been saying “da” or “dada” for Andrew for a while now, but only over the last two weeks or so actually started using “ma” and “mama” to refer to me. In fact, she now yells “mamamamama!” from her crib after she wakes up from her nap and wants me. Kayley also uses our names to say hi to us when we come back into a room, or like when Andrew gets home from work.

Ga, which has slowly been transforming into gook sometimes, is Kayley’s word for book. She’ll point at a book and say “ga” or bring you a book to have you read and say “ga.” In fact her first “sentence” had to do with her precious ga. Every night before bedtime we have family prayer time, which is followed by book time with dad. About four days ago after we said “amen” she said “Da ga!” meaning “it’s time for daddy book time!” She might not have used words per say, but she had a complete thought wrapped up into two distinct sounds. ^_^

Kayley is very interested in dogs. If she sees or hears them she makes her rendition of a woofing noise. And there have been a few times where it has sounded like she said gog or d/gog too. You can ask her what a dog says and she will woof. You can ask her what a monkey says and she will make a sound like is like a woofs/ooo-eee-ooo sound. You can ask her what a lion says and she will roar. You can ask her what a cat, hippo, giraffe, zebra, etc says and she roars. So she’s getting a few animal sounds down (we’re currently working on “a bear says gggrrrr” since we’re having a little bear cub).

Her understanding of words has really increased lately. Kayley is getting really good at following directions to the best of her understanding and abilities. If you ask her for her sippy, where it is, or to go find it, she will bring it to you. If you ask her to close a cupboard or the fridge she will. She totally knows what a bath is, and is starting to understand the word gentle more. And she’s getting good at sitting down when asked and going and getting something if you point at it and ask her to bring it to you. There are a few toys (her favorites) that she knows the names of really well. And she of course knows who Hoshi the cat is too. She can also point at her nose, ears, hair, feet, and will clap her hands when asked. And she will show you have to shake an object in her hands if you say “shake it baby shake it!” or just “shake shake shake.”

She’s still working on totally understanding the sign language she knows, which consists of please and all done (or all gone). Plus shaking her head no. I’d say she uses them correctly about 80% of the time. But sometimes when I think she means yes please she will do the sign for please, but shake her head no (she hasn’t figured out the whole nod your head for yes thing yet).

Kayley’s a little cutie and her cognitive stills are growing! I love watching her understanding of language grow and just her understanding of the world in general grow too.