Dey and Dee's Updates

Communication with a 14 month old

Yes, our little Esther has gotten quite communicative lately which is very exciting, and sometimes confusing! :) For example:

BAA ba means baby
bababa means sheep
baba means Deyan's mom
bapbap said with a finger bouncing in the air means hop hop (bunny)
bawbaw means chicken
baw means Bob
baboy means LarryBoy
bu-bye means good bye
bruh means brother or her friend Bryce
bir means Big Bird
bebo means belly button
boo means peekaboo
ba means bath (but when it's repeated....well, you get the idea!)

And then there's:
"moon" which sometimes sounds like "boon" (balloon) or "moo" (cow)

"dada" when drawn out lovingly means "daddy", said slightly faster while walking by the pantry means "cracker", but when said very quickly accompanied by an opening and closing hand means "quack quack" (duck or pretty much any bird for that matter)
Then again, this 'duck' sign also means to nurse, but she has her own way of expressing this desire clearly!

The sign for "teeth" is also the sign for "eat", "drink", "beaver" and if you're not careful can sometimes be confused with the sign for "nose" or for "pig"!

"this" and "please" sound the same. Thankfully they have different signs, although the 'please' sign is similar to the 'zebra' one.

Elephants, horses and cars all make the same sound. So do lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) (and sometimes hippos)
Crocodiles and seals have the same 'clapping' sign.
Gorillas "thump thump" and elephants "stomp stomp" but at least they each have their own sign!
She sticks her tongue out for dog and frog, but the first is accompanied with panting.

One of my favorites is her infamous "bum wiggle" which is her way of showing the most affection she can lavish on a person! Out of context, however, she will often do this same motion when talking about 'penguins'.

She does have some very clear words which are sometimes accompanied with appropriate signage in case I'm not sure! A few examples are: "mama", "teeth", "book", "Elmo", "poop", "nana" (which either means banana or my mom), "hat" (sometimes mixed up with "hi" as if talking on the phone), "night-night". Yes is "ah" said with a big open mouth and sometimes a nod of her head (which also means giraffe). Of course "no" is understood even though she doesn't say it - she sure is clear about something she doesn't want!

As you can imagine, this is very fun and yet can be so confusing at times! Her brother is often a good interpreter! She loves books these days and her favorite one is definitely "Pajama Time" by Sandra Boynton, although "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd is a close second. Everytime we read the Boynton one, she fills in the 'pajama time' phrase on each page. It sounds so cute and is getting clearer every day!

Funny, but I often think that Esther is more 'babyish' than Simeon was at this age. (not that I mind - I like keeping her little as long as possible!) But I do seem to remember Sim being able to speak alot more, learn letters and colors, etc. and Esther seems far off from all of those things. But now that I'm writing all of these down, I'm realizing that Esther 'talks' alot more than I thought! I guess I just don't always give the time and attention to notice! :(

posted by Deanna Momtchilov @ 12:00 AM