Mine, wine, shower

Mikaela is at a really fun stage of development right now where her language is just starting to take off. Not that most people could tell she was talking at all, but we can.

First there's the sign language. We started doing sign language with her when she was around six months old, in the hope that being able to communicate her desires relatively clearly before she could talk really would have the miracle effect the books say it will have - namely, avoiding much of the frustration inherent in being a helpless baby/toddler who can't even communicate her desperate thirst.

At first it was a bit disappointing. I think the book* we read said it could take anything from a few weeks to a few months for them to pick up the signs, but we were impatient. In retrospect I'm thinkin' the fact that she couldn't even sit up properly yet at six months means it would have been wise to wait a bit longer. After a while she seemed to be getting the sign we did for mummy milk, although her version was somewhat different and could have just been waving her arms wildly in the air.

However, in the last month or two she has finally really perfected the signs for mummy milk, drink, more, and down, which has been really exiting. It's so great when she walks up to me and does the sign for drink, and I think, how much harder would it be to figure out what she wanted if she couldn't do that? Of course, she also does yes and no, although he head nod is still more like a whole body nod, and she does food/hungry, but not as routinely.

And then there's spoken language. A little over a month ago I predicted that her language would start to take off by about Christmas. At Christmas I was doubtful, but now, a couple of weeks later, it is really happening. She is starting to repeat all sorts of words back to us - albeit not terribly clearly. Until now we could count her words on one hand - mummy, daddy (or diddy), more, ball. Those are still her clearest ones, but in the past few days she's added mine, wine (we've just been down the coast for the weekend and I guess she saw a lot more glasses of wine than she usually does), shower... and I'm sure some others, but can't think what they are.

*I can't remember what the book's called off the top of my head (Baby Hands?), but it was the only one in the shop that used Auslan - Australian Sign Language - rather than the American version, ASL.

Comments

[T. Carter]

Innit the language acquisition thing fascinating? We did ASL-based signing with both of our girls (although, much more with Celeste than Quinn) and there was just this explosion of recognition, repetition and use at the 12 month mark. Before then it'd be really hit or miss. Now Quinn, at almost 21 months, is talking up a storm, but both she and her sister (3 years) both still use some signs with us and each other ... and quizzing them on signs can be a good distraction/game when they're getting cranky in the car.