Alex now takes his sippy-cup and bangs it against our glass and says “Chee”. We didn’t (intentionally) teach him this.
Today, completely unprompted, Alex sang:
Though he does flirt fairly well, the most he’s done so far is reach down shirts.
Nick: Alex, what sound does a dog make?
Alex: Woof! Oof! (For some reason, he only manages the “w” on the 1st one).
Nick: What sound does a cat make?
Alex: ee-ow.
Nick: What sound does a horse make?
Alex: eeee-eeee (closer to whinnying than I can type)
Nick: What sound does an elephant make?
Alex: eeee-ooooo (while holding his arm out like a raised trunk)
Nick: What sound does a cow make?
Alex: oooo (again, like meow, no “m”)
Nick: What sound does a sheep make?
Alex: maaaaa (great, now we get an m)
Nick: What sound does a frog make?
Alex: wub-bee
Nick: What sound does a lion make?
Alex: wra-ow
Nick: What sound does a bear make?
Alex: wra-ow (he has a stuffed lion that he calls “beh-ah”)
Nick: What sound does a bird make?
Alex: caw, caw (lotsa crows near our house)
Nick: What sound does a small bird make?
Alex: caw, caw
Nick: No, Alex, a small bird?
Alex: Twee, twee
Nick: What sound does a chicken make?
Alex: bok-bok
Nick: What sound does a rooster make?
Alex: oo-oo-oo (which sounds closer to a rooster than…)
Nick: What sound does an owl make?
Alex: oooooo
Nick: What sound does a duck make?
Alex: kwa-kwa
Nick: What sound does a snake make?
Alex: esssss-sssss
Nick: What sound does a lamb make?
Alex: maaa-maa
Nick: What sound does a fish make?
Alex: (moves mouth like a goldfish)
Nick: What sound does a clock make?
Alex: ding dong
Nick: What sound does a fire truck make?
Alex: wee-oh-wee-oh (his sound for a siren)
Nick: What sound does a football make?
Alex: ta-dan
Nick: What sound does a soccer ball make?
Alex: golll!!!
Nick: What sound does Santa make?
Alex: ho. ho. ho.
Nick: What sound does mommy make?
Alex: da-dee!
Nick: What sound does daddy make?
Alex: mah-mee!
Nick: What sound does a plane make?
Alex: wa. too. wa. too. ho-o? ho-o? (at this point he’s tired of this game, has picked up the phone, is counting, dialling and talking to the operator who’s telling him that he must dial 1 or 0 before trying to call China).
Alex: [Throws ball from family room to living room where the XMas tree is]
Nick: Alex, where’s the ball?
Alex: Ba (ball) ta-be-bu-fo-meh-da-poh (or something similar) twee (tree).
The ball was, in fact, under the tree. What the heck was he saying for the other ½ dozen syllables?
Alex is regularly stringing together 2- and 3-word sentences (sometimes with ‘babble’ in between). Some of the babble he uses is consistent… he’ll use the same sounds… we just don’t know what they mean. He’s getting better and better at making himself understood, whether by talking or dragging us along behind him and pointing to things. We’re not really teaching him that many more signs… only ‘important’ concepts like stop, no, help… though, he’s pretty good at saying these himself. Open, though, somehow escapes him.
Me: Alex, what sound does a dog make?
Alex: Oof. Oof.
Me: What sound does a cat make?
Alex: Eeee-ow.
[... cow, sheep, pig, horse, elephant, bird, duck...]
Me: Alex, what sound does a football make?
Alex: [raises both arms straight up] tuh-dahn!!!
Alex: [cries]Dina and I looked at each other incredulously. It was incredibly clear for his first 3-syllable word. Well… he says ‘banana’ but only after we correct him repeatedly when he says ‘nana’.
Me: Alex, use your words and your signs, what do you want?
Alex: Stwaw-buh-wee?
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?