Signs of the time

Little E understands lots of words and phrases. He definitely knows "want to go to the park?", "time for school" and "go get a book". It seems like the only ones he doesn't understand are "no" and "come here".

His vocalization of words, while progressing, lags considerably behind his comprehension (as expected for his age). He has recently added "tree" and "spoon" to his vocabulary list but I'm not sure I would know this if he wasn't holding up the spoon or pointing to the tree while saying them; his annunciation needs work. I'm not complaining; he's right on track for his age and his "words" are adorable.

E has made great strides in the non-verbal communication arena of late. He waves all the time. He waves "hello". When he's ready to go he waves "bye-bye". When he's ready to sleep he wave "night-night". (If he doesn't wave, generally he's not ready).

We've been teaching E bits of sign language and he can now sign "milk", "all done", "eat", "more", and "please". He's a bit confused about the meaning of "more" though. He seems to think it means "I want something specific" even if he's not currently having some of it. The sign for more is to repeatedly touch the finger tips of opposing hands together. The speed at which E puts his hands together starts slowly but will increase to a frantic pace if he doesn't get what he wants. If he wants something really badly he will switch back and forth from high-speed "more" to extreme "please". "Please" is to rub your hand on your chest. Extreme "please" uses both hands and looks more like he is beating his chest Tarzan style.

As for the something specific he wants more (or some) of; usually it is something in his line of sight and he points. Cheerios, goldfish crackers, outside ... you name it.

E's a bit shaky on "all done" too. He'll throw his hands in the air (not official ASL but it works around here) but then immediately sign "more". I think he may be telling me he's all done with the current offering, please get him something else. I tend to ignore this. He'll also sign "all done" repeatedly but then start eating again once I get a washcloth from the kitchen. The really bad thing about our sign for "all done" is that it sends his food-covered hands up to his hair. He's been trying out applesauce leave-in hair conditioner lately and boy is his hair sticky shiny.

He's doing so well with signs that we're trying to add some more. On the list are "help me", "banana", "peas", and "outside". I'm thinking of trying for "Mommy, I'd like to clean my room and then do the dishes", but I'll settle for "I love you".