Party of Four?

“What is that, Charlotte?”

“day-dee”

“Bay-Bee”

“bah-bah-bah. bah-day-dee. bah-bah-bah. bah-day-dee. bah-bah-bah. bah-day-dee. bah-bah-bah. bah-day-dee.”

we are raising a rather polite child. we introduced “please” as a concept a few months ago and although she’s interpreted it largely as “if you do this, they’ll have to give you what you want”, it’s a part of most exchanges with her. recently, she’s started saying her own version of “thank you” as well. sometimes even without prompting.

this weekend, something a bit odd happened. we were a memorial day/graduation party and sampling cake. like most deserts, we used the cake and ice cream as a teaching opportunity for the more, please, and thank you concepts. at this point, they’re largely reinforcers. she’d sign “more” as soon as you ask “would you like more?” of anything …except the cake. when we’d asked if she’d like more cake, she lifted one arm in the air and waved it about. At first, we thought she was distracted by something, but she didn’t have any issues asking for more ice cream, just cake.

eventually, we realized what we’d done. one of our family favorite songs is seven by they might be giants. it’s a fun song that repeats the refrain “we want cake! where’s our cake?” several times. in the car, we’ve been encouraging charlotte’s participation by raising our fists in the air and pumping them with great fury.

context is key.

as predicted by many charlotte-fans, she’s gone from zero words to a new “word” almost every day this past week.

she very clearly says “hi.” she says it with a wave when greeting (or noticing) someone. it occasionally sounds like “hi there.” which may be her attempt at “hi ” only she hasn’t grasped that quite yet. this has probably been going on for about a week.

she also points at dogs/puppies when she sees them and says “doggie” (“dgah-ghee”). she does this fairly consistently, and doesn’t really use that sound combination at other times with purpose, although it does come out quite often when she babbles.

along with “hi”, she’ll also wave and say “bye-bye” (which, since she doesn’t get the b-sound, comes out “duh-die”). this one is quite the crowd-pleaser since she does it every time we get out of the elevator, or when she’s being carried away from *anyone* at the store, mall, street, etc.

still no clear mama or dada (i think everyone’s “name” might be dada to her). i think the next words might be shoe, sock, or zipper, since those seem to be the most reinforced words.

as far as comprehension, she very clearly understands “give that to me,” “can i have that, please?”, “not in your mouth”, “arms up” (for taking off clothes, getting in the high chair), and is working on “what is that?”. she can sign “milk” (which really just means “cup to drink out of”), if you point and ask. she’ll fairly regularly say “doggie”, but most of the rest of the time she just sort of stares at you with an “i don’t know” look on her face. i guess that means she understands the question, though.

along those same lines, she loves dancing to music, especially while watching herself in the mirror, and will even move along with “head, shoulders, knees and toes” and “hot potato.” we caught her doing the “mashed bananas” part in the car today and it was a-DOR-able.

this is another grey area. i think the best answer is “sort of.”

i may just be very picky. to me, it’s not going to count as a “first word” until she says it without provocation consistently and accurately (if everything is a ‘dog’ then nothing is).

that having been said, she babbles constantly and is clearly trying to mimic sentence structure, and not always repeating the same sounds over and over. she points to things in books and babbles like she’s reading words. these are all things that they say come after first words, which is why i think i’m picky. she’s got lots of sounds, too. most of the basic vowel sounds and a bunch of consonants (dd, mm, nn, ng, bb, tt). zz, ss zth all come out like “th” but you can tell it’s intentional.

her first “word” will probably be “dog” (lots of visits to grandma and seeing them while we’re out), “dada”, “mama”, “sock”, “shoe”, or “zero” (she points to the “0″ on our front door while were trying to get in and we talk about it). she may already be saying “hi”, but it’s impossible to tell. almost everything starts off as “hi.” babysitters have claimed she’s said “hi dog” and “see ya” clear as day, but since i’ve also heard her say “jesus” (possibly “cheezits”) and “cigarettes” clear as day, i’m highly skeptical.

oh! and she does know a small amount of sign language. she does the sign for hungry, but i’m not sure how much of that is real. she does it when you’re asking her if she’s hungry so it might just be a mimic thing. or she’s always hungry. she definitely knows the sign for more, although it’s clear that it really just means “give me that thing so i can put it in my mouth.” she does it when her tray is empty and she can see more food. she does it if you’re eating/drinking something and she wants it. she also doesn’t always do it when you ask her if she wants more. sometimes she claps her hands or raises her arms or pushes the tray away.

we’re working on getting her to understand “all done”, “milk”, and “juice,” as well as “please” and “thank you.” she’s also got a few more gestures that we’re trying to discern. having her communicate with us in ways other than crying or fussing by talking is something i didn’t expect to be so moving.

she responds to several commands (give me that, put that in the box, where is your ear/nose, etc), so i think she’s moments away from getting it all. i expect there to be a helen keller “water” moment in the next few weeks and suddenly her vocabulary will skyrocket.