These are the words Alex can currently communicate to us (communicating them to you is a completely different story… see below). Pronunciation obviously leaves to be desired (meeyoh is mellon, bee-ee is berry, woof is dog, and Gee-dee is his friend Gideon). Some, denoted with a *, are also signed. Some aren’t really said or signed so much as hinted at (for example, for elephant, he puts his hand up in front of himself like a trunk and makes his impression of an elephant trumpeting).
food*,
drink*,
one,
two,
grape,
mama,
daddy,
bubble,
more*,
cheese,
water,
bath,
bye-bye*,
melon,
apple,
fire,
elephant*,
dog/woof,
bird/caw,
cat/meow,
fish (goldfish ’sound’),
squirrel*,
boots (and Boots),
bacci (Italian for kiss) and kiss*,
shoes,
map,
backpack*,
banana,
ball,
block,
siren* (wee-oh),
socks,
bus,
pants,
plane*,
Gideon,
truck,
box,
up*,
down*,
beer,
book,
away,
close,
change*,
rain,
candle,
train,
ear,
eyes,
nose,
hair,
mouth,
teeth,
crayon,
berry,
milk,
star*,
bolloon,
hot*,
cold*,
stool,
chair,
stairs,
Elmo,
Nonno (Italian for grandfather),
Nonna (Italian for grandmother),
Lola (Filipino for grandmother),
wow,
dance,
light,
on,
off,
done*,
flower,
horse,
cow/moo,
sheep/baa,
wash,
no,
yes,
hi / hello*,
slide,
swing,
duck,
thank you*,
belt,
boo-boo (hurt). That’s just what we could think of off the top of our heads today. There’s probably more.
He understands a lot more than that. Among other things:
Turn the page. Pick up ___. Bring me ___. Turn. Tired. Belly button. Show. Point. What sound does a ___ make? Eat (duh). Stop. Come. Change diaper. Clothes. In / out. Wait. Close. Open. Where is the ___? How remote controls work. Forks and spoons.
He also sings along to the Muppets Muh-nah Muh-nah song. He does the mamamamama sound, while we do the do-do-do-do-do. :-)
Some people claim that if they don’t understand what Alex is saying then we shouldn’t count that as a word. I disagree. Let’s say my English vocabulary is 10,000 words. If I know a word that you don’t understand, does that mean that the word shouldn’t count? I speak 2 other languages. Do those 20,000 words not count if you don’t speak those languages?