well, i'm happy to report that the language explosion i've been enviously hearing about has definitely happened in our house. over the course of the past month, the boys vocab has skyrocketed! at 20 months, they have mastered well over 50 words (i tried to count the other day, and i just gave up), and are constantly repeating what we say, no matter how complex.
some of my favorites so far...
ozzy: jiu jitsu (says it perfect!), teenager (hardly recognizable, but it's clear he is saying it), please (peese!), abie (baaaybee), lawn mower (mmmmmm-aaaaw), gross (gro)
abie: acorn (acka), oskar (ocka), brother (brada - kickin' it bronx style!), coal car (says perfect, because the kid is totally OCD about thomas the train)
the boys still use A LOT of signs every day and surprise me all the time by busting out new ones we practiced a long time ago. we started gymboree a few weeks ago and the boys are all about getting their hands, feet and belly ink-stamped at the end of class. they sit in a line in front of the teacher and wait their turn (to die for cute, btw). last week, after oz got his stamps, the teacher turned to me and said, "do you know the sign for your welcome?" i said, "no, why?" and she looked at me like the dumb-ass that i was and said, "well, oskar just signed thank you to me, and i'd like to sign your welcome!" they now sign thank you for everything, and it's gotten me on a whole new manners kick.
coinciding with their new-found words, is my new-found ability to decipher what they are saying. things are starting to sound really clear to me, as well as my ability to understand the nuances of their words. for instance, i am mama, and lots of time just ma. moa is more, which sounds a lot like ma, but is infinitely different. mmmmmmm-aaaaaw is lawn mower. which also sounds a lot like ma and more, but is infinitely-squared different. they use all three of these words about five thousand times every day, so you can imagine how relieved i am that i am able to finally comprehend.
here are our jabber mouths at 20 months old:
oz
abie
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5 comments:
You get right to the edge of insanity with worry, and then they finally reassure you! I feel similarly. I was starting to worry, then Rebecca busted out with a spontaneous "more" sign! And then learned to say and sign "duck." It's not high-level conversation, but it's a start. :-)
Hey can I ask when you started signing with the boys? Can you recommend any books or dvd's. I just started throwing out the signs I know for the babies but wanted to learn more. So far we are just using milk, more, eat and up. Those I learned from my sil when she would sign for her kids.
Great to hear it Tracy. We, on the other hand, took your advise for the early dev. assessment and they said they recommend speech therapy for the boys. They are still not talking. The only words they have are ball, mama and dada. That's it. I'm still waiting for the language explosion, and the next time I hear someone say "yeah, but they're twins... don't twins talk later?" I'm gonna kill em. It's true, twins talk later. But how come all the other twin boys I know the same age are talking?
As you can probably tell, I might be feeling a we bit frantic.
I'll keep you posted when the words come.
Dana
www.lockharttwins.blogspot.com
Coal car and jui jitsu are my favorites!
Reid now yells "Broooooooook!" if he wants his dad and "Babe!" if he wants me. It's pretty crazy how much they are paying attention. It's time to clean up my act (aka potty mouth)!
we started signing with the boys when they were 8 months old. we started with milk and i did it every time they nursed. abel started signing milk at 10 months and oz soon after. we then expanded to more and eat and just focused on those. i think they started doing more around 12 months. we bought a great book - "my first signs" by kubler. the boys love to look at the book and imitate the illustrations. it's very basic, though. for the most part, i just look up words on the ASL site and teach them when using the word in context. they get it so fast, it's crazy. i started taping "signing time" on pbs but haven't watched it yet.
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