Her comprehension and the ability I have to communicate with her is amazing. I can't believe how much she understands.
Recently, she said "nigh-nigh" and signed "milk" (we still do a bottle at bedtime) about a half hour before bedtime. I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. My 14 mth old was telling me she was tired and ready to go to sleep!
It was the first time that she initiated a conversation with me completely unprovoked. She had a thought, a need she wanted to express and she had the tools to do it. It still fascinates me that we're to that point.
And don't even get me started on "banana". She actually signs it and says "nana". It's her very favorite food in the whole world right now. She thinks she should eat one at every meal and snack. I can't tell you how many times a day she asks for a "nana". I have to hide them. If she sees one, it's on.
Her sitter makes sure to keep them in stock so she can have one at breakfast every day. So now she associates the two together. I tell her we're going to see Miss Anita and she starts saying "nana". We pull into her driveway, she looks around, realizes where we are and starts saying "nana" as I'm getting her out of the car seat. It's too funny.
One Saturday I stuck her in her high chair and asked what she wanted for breakfast. I was simply just talking to her like I always do. I certainly didn't expect a response.
But she knew it was morning. She knew it was breakfast time. And she knew to associate breakfast with cereal. She truly amazes me like that all the time... and of course, she also wanted a "nana". LOL!
Our dog barks when he wants to be let in. So we have this game where I ask her what a doggie says and she nods her head forward as she says "arf arf". Except it comes out more like "ah ah".
During a meal time last week, the dog was outside as I was feeding her. Apparently, I had tuned out his barking. But Mia heard him and suddenly did the "arf arf" thing. I thanked her for reminding me to let the dog in. Adorable...
When she's being sassy and mommy means business... like when she's eating the dog food, or touching Christmas ornaments, or playing in the toilet, or any number of testing her limits kind of things she's been doing lately... I'll point my index finger at her and wag it as I sternly say "No No No" or "Mommy said No No No".
Guess who repeats me, wagging pointy finger and all? I have to try to get that on tape. It's hard not to laugh.
She'll be 15 months old in 4 days. And just so I can keep track and look back on this some day...
She knows and is consistently using the signs for:
banana
milk
more
all done
cheese
cracker
cereal
eat
drink
bath
hat
baby
We've been learning shoes, socks, wash hands, please, thank you, sorry, car and several others in the Baby Signing Times Vol 2 DVD. I've seen glimpses of those. But she's not actually using them yet.
As far as verbal language, she can say:
momma
moh-moh-moh (while she signs more)
mi-mi-mi (while she signs milk)
nana (while signing banana)
nigh nigh (she leaves off the "t" sound but means sleep/ time for bed)
ah-ah (translated to arf arf)
hi
bye bye
She also sings the "la la la la la" part of this song when we're in the car and it comes on the radio. It's the cutest funniest thing ever. Gawd I just love her!
11 comments:
After the last two days, I needed to hear something heart-warming, uplifting, and POSITIVE, and this more than fit the bill. She is maturing so quickly!!! How do you dare close your eyes? You'll open them next week to find she's in driver's ed!!!
Krista- she is just the most adorable thing! It is so amazing when they start talking and communicating with you- you can finally get a glipmse of how they see the world and believe me, they see more than we do. Enjoy her!!
That's awesome about the signing. I was apprehensive about sign language before we got our daughter. But my husband really wanted to do it, so we got a video and taught her a few words. It was wonderful. She was 17 months old at the time of adoption, so she already knew Mandarin, but did not speak it yet, and she did not know any English (obviously). We taught her "more, milk, water, ball, cat, and dog). It actually HELPED with language acquisition to learn English, because it opened the part of her brain that helps her learn new things. I still think she is advanced at 7 partly due to incorporating sign into her language acquisition. We stopped with sign language when she was 21 months old. And to our amazement, when we were at the beach when she was 26 months old, I was standing in the waves with her, and when the wave went out she signed... "more...water" because she wanted the waves to come back up. I was dumbfounded! My husband got it on tape, and I realized then how wonderful sign was for her memory. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Isn't it amazing what babies soak up in their daily lives? And people always thought they were just cute little things to cuddle. It is so fun to watch as she develops into this mini person who's so capable of thinking and communicating! Amazing stuff.
Smart cookie. Amazing how if we pay attention and talk to our kids, the respond in kind.
Really great stuff here - and you'll find that the terrible twos and threes won't be nearly as bad because she can communicate her needs to you!! I wish we had done signing with our first 3 (now in early to mid 20's) - it would have been a much happier start to their lives!!
hugs - aus and co.
To cute!! We always used the words "hands off" when my son was touching or playing with things he shouldn't. That solved him telling me "no no" :) What a beautiful and amazing little girl you have, I have been following your blog for a few years.
Tami from Washington
Oh my goodness...she reminds me SO MUCH of my daughter at that age! A TOTAL cutie pie your Mia is! (But, you already knew that! ;)
ENJOY every moment...I never believed it, but it really does go by so fast...my Kiara is in 2nd grade already!
She is definitely one smart chick and cutie patootie to boot !!!It's kinda nice to know that I'm not the only one with a couple of sassy chicks. The problem for me is that they are just so darn cute even when they are sassy.
Of course I loved my kids as babies, but I was so excited when they got to the point when they could communicate. It's awesome that Mia is getting there.
My kids and I love to sing and dance to "You Make Me Feel." :)
Congratulations on being "on the other side" with her. Have have years before I reach that milestone with my daughter, but it's already something I've thought about.
It's amazing how quickly Mia has grown. One time I pop over to read your blog and she's sitting up. Next time, she's walking and talking. At least it seems that way!
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