Mind your language

It is amazing to see how quickly Thumper is learning to communicate with words. We have been doing baby sign language with her (as we did with BallFiend) and she first signed back when she was about 7 months old, signing 'mum'. Unfortunately I rarely see her do this one as she only tends to ask for me when I am not around. After using few signs since then, suddenly in the past month, her vocabulary as exploded...

Things Thumper can sign:

• mum (started about 7 months)
• goodbye (started about 8 months)
• more (started about 9 months)
• drink (started about 9 months)
• food/eat (started about 9 months)
• dad (started about 9 - 10 months)
• milk - the Auslan version (started at about 10 months)
• sleep (start about 12 months)
• dog (started at 13 months)
• ball (started at 13 months)
• hurt (started at 13 months)
• hat (started at 13 months)
• lion (started at 13 months)
• bath/wash (started at 14 months - first signed when I said 'dad is going to have a shower', she signed bath)
• milk - stopped using the traditional sign and has made up her own which mimics me undoing the clasp on my maternity bra (14 months) 
• elephant (started about 14 months)
• poo/nappy (started about 14 months)
• telephone (started at 14 months)
• hot (started at 14 months)
• fish (started at 14 months)
• bell (started at 14 months - today when I heard the school bell ring and said so, she signed bell!)

Added to her signing vocabulary is her increasing interest in mimicking sounds and repeating words...


Some of the things Thumper can say:

• more ('mah')
• hello ('elo' or 'el-ah')
• mama
• dada
• lion/tiger ('raah')
• BallFiend's name
• dog ('da-') 
• car ('brrm-brrm')
• shh! ('sss')
• monkey ('ooh-ooh')

And while I'm here...


Funny things Thumper does: 

• gives kisses
• blows kisses
• pats people on head or shoulder, as if saying 'there there'
• high-fives
• blows raspberries (and has about five different ways of doing so)
• point to various body parts - nose, head, toes, fingers, tummy.
• she attempts to put own socks on
• completely empties out the drawers in the kitchen, dispersing plastic containers and tea towels all over the floor
• Power-crawls! I literally have to run to catch her.
• crawls up to me and tugs on the leg of my pants when she wants attention 
• does funny poses, such as when she is mid-crawl, she will stop and lift one leg up, point her toes and half-twist her body around, then grins like a maniac
• dances by bobbing up and down on the spot