baby words

Hi everyone,

This is my first blog post. I'm not planning on sharing this with "the world" any time soon. Nothing in the past has inspired me to write a blog, but being a new mom has finally done it. So, it took me 10 months to do it. See, before, I thought I would remember every little detail of Elliot's life, but now I'm realizing that my brain is dropping memories like a sieve and I'd better write this stuff down. Let me be clear: this blog (or at least the baby portions of it) is for ME. I know that all you hipper-than-though blog readers couldn't give a rat's behind about my baby and what he says/eats/extrudes, but I DO, and I am way too lazy to write this stuff in an actual notebook. What we all do when services like Blogger start to go down X years from now is another story - I guess that's why printers will never become obsolete. But I digress.

So, today's missive is about The Boy's current vocabulary size. He's not talking yet (except for "hi" and "hey" which he's been saying for about 3 months). As far as I can tell, the first word he started recognizing was...

BOUNCE / BOUNCY / BOUNCING

This happened when he was about 6 months old and in his Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo, aka Bouncer. When he first got that thing, he would go berserk in it jumping as hard and fast as he could for about 10 minutes. I would jump around him yelling "bounce, bounce, bounce!" and I think the excitement of it all and the repetition made his little brain understand the word almost immediately. Within days, if he was just hanging in the bouncer and I came by and said "bounce, bounce!" he would start laughing and bouncing like crazy. Now, even if he's not in the bouncer, saying "bounce" just one time quietly will get him to start bobbing up and down.

HI / HEY

This happened around month 7. He would say it and sometimes bring his hand up for a spasmodic wave. We could get this to repeat by saying hi repeatedly to him. My mom is the one who first claimed (noticed?) that he was "talking" because he would always "say" "heeeeey" in a squeaky tone when she was on speaker phone. I was doubtful, but the context was certainly appropriate and over the weeks and months the "heeeey" sound did morph into a "hey" and then a "hi" (complete with American-style intonation and diphthongs, to my great enjoyment) which he would usually say when first starting a "conversation" with someone or when looking in the mirror at himself.

UP

When he was laying down and I would say "up!" he would tense up his neck and back so I could pull him into the standing position. This was repeatable. It gave (still gives) him great enjoyment after having to lie still for a diaper change.

EAT

Also around month 7 or 8 after he'd been eating solid foods for a while, I introduced a little eating sign for him to tell me that he wanted food. I would say "want to eat?" or "are you hungry?" and make an eating motion with my mouth. He quickly picked it up and would come over to me like a puppy whenever I was eating at the table, looking up and giving me the munching motion as a sign. I always had (have) to oblige this little sign because it's just so darn endearing. Now, when he hears the word "eat" he makes the sign, so I know there's a mental connection there.

NO

This one is debatable, but around month 8 or 9 it seemed that he started understanding the ever-present word "no." He tends to stop what he's doing momentarily giving him enough time to look over his shoulder and make eye contact with you before he continues doing exactly what he knows you want him to stop. That's the question, I guess. Does he understand that he's supposed to cease entirely, or does he just think he's supposed to pause and look at you? I tend to think that he doesn't really understand what we're asking for. Either that, or he understands the intent but, much like a senior with Alzheimer's, he forgets after about 3 seconds what it is that you just told him and continues on his merry way sticking his hand in the toilet bowl.

MORE

While you're feeding him, you can often get his attention by saying "more?". I'm not sure that he really recognizes the phoneme - perhaps any odd uttering would achieve the same thing.

BABY

He definitely knows this one. If I say "where's the baby?" when he's looking at a baby product, he can pick out the baby and point to it. I don't think he realizes yet that he too is a baby.

NOSE

When you say this word, he points at your face with his index finger. If you allow him, he will come forward and touch your nose and/or scratch and poke it dangerously.

LIGHT

He likes to point at the lights in the house and in the past week (month 10) he will point at the lights after you say "where's the light?" In the last month he has become hyper-aware of lights turning on and off and very interested in light switches.


That's about all that I'm aware of. Of course, he could understand much more and I'd never know it. Last night for example, he picked up his drum stick and looked up at me. I said "hit the drum!" and immediately he leaned over and started hitting the drum right in the middle of the drum head. It's possible that was his plan all along, but I don't think so.