Saturday, February 5, 2011

Communication

Eliza is communicating with us more and more recently!  It is so fascinating to watch her learn so much - so many new things! - every single day.  I can see why people say that toddlers are "sponges".

Eliza's signing has really picked up recently.  I learned a few new signs from the DVD "Baby Signing Time", so I have been showing them to Eliza and she has started using them already (and yes, I did let her watch the DVD once with me - though we're still not keen on letting her watch TV regularly).  It took a while for her to start using signs at first - I think by 8 months she was consistently using the sign for milk to ask to nurse, and that was shortly followed by "more" and "all done" (and, quite randomly, "fan").  But that was the extent of her signing up until recently.  Now she can (and does) sign "fish", "eat", "cat", "dog", "cracker", "hurt" and "drink".

And then, just this morning we were walking through IKEA with my parents and I was pointing out a baby nearby, and she did the sign for baby!  I didn't even model it to her first, she just signed it - I was totally blown away.

It's pretty neat to watch her learn to communicate more effectively.  She is also starting to talk more, too; she will try to pronounce almost any word you ask her to.  The words she regularly uses these days are:
  • "mama"
  • "dada"
  • "bah-pah" (she uses this word for Grandpa and Grandma - either that, or she thinks my mom is also grandpa - haha - but I don't think so, I think she just can't quite vocally differentiate between grandPA and grandMA yet)
  • "eye"
  • "hi"
  • "bye bye" (this one was new this week!)
  • "clock"
  • "fish"
  • "look!" (she points when she says this, it is so cute!)
  • "hat"
My girl is growing up so fast, but it is such a joy to watch and be a part of that I honestly don't feel sad about it.  I only sometimes wish I could slow down our days, our lives, our busy schedules so that I wouldn't always feel like I'm going to miss something!

4 comments:

Alyssa said...

So amazing! We're starting to do signs with Evan (more, all done, and food). Not sure if he understands, but I'm sure it will help soon.

Summer said...

It always amazes me that little kids have such a good understanding of things long before they can talk. It must be wonderful to be able to communicate with Eliza! I look forward to the days that Eddie starts talking. I haven't been the most consistent with signing because he just is not interested. I know I shouldn't give up because he certainly understands a lot more of what we are saying now. Like you, I love each new milestone and step my little guy takes. I have so enjoyed watching him turn from a little baby into an almost toddler before my eyes!

Ash said...

Ella- That is so so cool!! How fun it must be to watch her brain process everything and keep adding more and more words and signs to her repertoire:)

Summer- my son is also not interested in signs so after a few months of very low key trying I'm letting it go. I've heard some toddlers/babies just don't want to sign and that they show us other non-verbal cues for the everyday stuff. It is definitely true for my son.

Dawn said...

I can't believe how big she is getting. She is such a smart babe! Can't wait until I can communicate more with Addy (although I'm in no rush for her to grow up!).

Eliza's Stats

Birth: 8 lbs 5 ozs
Going home: 7 lbs 10 ozs
5 days: 7 lbs 13 ozs
2 months: 12 lbs 6 ozs
4 months: 17 lbs
5 months: 18 lbs 12 ozs
6 months: 20 lbs 13 ozs
9 months: 24 lbs 3 ozs
12 months: 26 lbs 13 ozs
15 months: 28 lbs
18 months: 29 lbs 3 ozs
2 years: 32 lbs
3 years: 34 lbs

Alice's Stats

Birth: 8 lbs 11 oz
2 Months: 13 lbs 10 oz
4 Months: 17 lbs 15 oz
6 Months: 20 lbs 4 oz