Baby Talk

Caleb is 18-months-old and he is using about 25 words regularly (including animal sounds, which my speech therapist friend assures me do count at his age). His animal sounds are really adorable and amazingly clear. I guess he learned to emulate certain animals so well from the Baby Einstein videos, because the pitch and articulation of his owl, elephant and whale especially are very true-to-life. He also still uses his ten signs to aid him in his very basic communicative abilities. Just because I like to do this from time to time and because Caleb's grandmothers read this site, I've listed his current vocab here. I don't delude myself into believing that most of you are interested in the exact words that Caleb is saying, so feel free to skip to the next paragraph :) Words: home, park, mall, store, church, mama, dada, my, ball, star, this, no, shoe, vroom-vroom (car), choo-choo (train); animal sounds: owl, dog, cat, lion, tiger, elephant, duck, snake, whale, dolphin, bird; signs: sleep, eat, drink, milk, outside, watch TV, please, hot, more, all done.

We are around other 18-months-old who are more verbal than Caleb and have larger spoken vocabularies, but two months ago he hardly said anything, so we are happy that he is making progress. His favorite word, which he acquired during a disagreement with his 2-year-old friend Noah during our trip to Destin, is "NO". He almost always says the word very emphatically with a tone of, "What made you ask such a ridiculous question?" It really doesn't matter what the question is, the answer is "NO" 95% of the time.

"Do you want to take a bath?" (Caleb loves baths.) "NO!"
"Do you want to eat some grapes?" (Grapes are his favorite food.) "NO!"
"Do you want to go to the store with mama?" "NO!"
"Will you share your train with mama?" "NO!"
"Can mama help you read that book?" "NO!"
"Do you want to watch TV?" "Dah! Dah!" (his word for "yes")

And such is the usual pattern of our conversations. The only question that consistently gets a "yes" is the TV. Anything else could go either way, but the scales are definitely in favor of a negative. I've learned that if I really want him to do something, I'd better tell him that we're going to do it rather than give him an option!

In spite of this burst of vocal independence, Caleb has actually become more affectionate and cuddly lately. He often comes up and gives me a spontaneous hug or kiss, and sometimes just wants me to hold him while he lays his head on my shoulder. He hasn't done that (without being sick or tired) since he could hold his head up! Yesterday, we were at an outdoor Christian concert in Clearwater and Caleb was in an exceptionally affectionate mood. He was sitting on my lap facing me, and he kept hugging me, then kissing me, and then saying "my mama!" I would respond in kind with "Mama loves Caleb!" We went through this routine five or six times, and then he hugged me very tightly and said "Wuv mama!" It was truly priceless.