Communication

According to the doctor, Anna should say 3 to 7 words right now and that number should rapidly increase by her second birthday. I've had several conversations with friends about how much or little our kids are talking - some are spouting full sentences, some talk only in the quiet of their own home and others, like Anna, prefer to point and grunt. Despite Anna saying only a few words, I have no doubt that she is understanding most of what I say to her and loves to answer my yes and no questions. Her current vocabulary includes: 'dada', 'mama' (which lately has become more like 'bama'), 'ball', 'juz' (juice), 'dada' (the dog), 'woof', 'hi'. There are two words that Anna uses for more than one object, which the doctor assures me is fairly normal. To the common person, it would seem that Anna doesn't know the difference between her daddy and doggie, but if we say daddy and doggie back to her she points to the correct one. The other word is 'ball' which is used for both an actual ball and a balloon - though Anna only points to the balloon when you say the correct word to her.

With these simple everyday words "mastered" Anna decided last night that it was time to take on more difficult words. She is skipping right past saying 'mimi' and 'papa' (sorry grandparents!) and moving on to her new favorite word 'backpack'. So cute.

We've also experimented a little with baby sign language. I did it when Anna was very young and then got burnt out and stopped since she wasn't old enough to do it back. She now has the "more" sign down pat. More cheerios? "more"; Do the puzzle again? "more"; and of course long after we are tired from bouncing her in our lap or flipping her upside down, "more". Anna's other sign is "all done" which we use at the end of mealtime.

It makes the day more fun to be able to carry on a conversation with my darling little Anna and before I know it I'm sure she will be quite the chatterbox.