Signing and Saying

Liam can now sign about 45 words and say about 24 (depending on what you count as a word and assuming I'm remembering everything). His signs are focused on animals, objects and requests, while his words are more focused on people (although animals and statements are close behind). Of all his words, there are only 7 that he can't also sign and they're almost all names, colors and letters, which are a bit more abstract. His words basically consist of the vowel sounds plus B, D, H, M and N.

I'm very glad we tried sign language with Liam since it has clearly enabled him to communicate with us much more than he can with words alone. I'd imagine this leaves him less frustrated than he would have been, but who knows? His vocabulary is very strongly centered around nouns (the verbs he knows like eat and sit are more focused on the nouns involved - like the food or the end-state of sitting - than the actions themselves). Grouping people with animals makes the focus on living things quite clear too. He's also picked up on the names of things before the attributes (e.g. ball before yellow). His spoken vocabulary is limited by the sounds he's capable of making, and his signs are also limited by the dexterity of his hands (yellow, sheep and water all involve more difficult hand shapes).

Here are the lists of words I'm counting so you can judge for yourself whether they "count" as words :)  Drum-roll please....

Signs:
Animals (13) : cat, dog, fish, lion, bird, pig, monkey, horse, cow, owl, bear, turtle, giraffe
Objects (11): moon, book, light, phone, bath (tub), fan (ceiling), ball, "that" (pointing), shoes, car, plane
Requests (10): help, open, pick-me-up, more, eat, drink, milk, please, down, sit
People (1): daddy, mommy
Statements (6): no (head shake), yes (head nod), all-done, bye, blow a kiss, hi/bye (wave)
Numbers (1): one
Colors (1): orange
Food (2): apple, banana

Says:
People (~6): Dada, Mama, Ady (friend Adeline), Baby (himself in a picture, or other babies), Debbie, Mommy, Daddy, Bobo (one of his grandfathers)
Animals (5): Ditty (for Kitty), 'oof (for dog), Moo (for cow), Raaar (lion roar), Baa (for sheep)
Statements (4): Bye, No, Hi, Uh-oh
Objects (3): Ba'a (Ball), Bone (dog's bone), 'Aoom (for car's vroom), Boo'oo (Pool)
Requests (2): Mo'h (More), num-num (for food)
Colors (2): B'oo (Blue), Yeddow (Yellow)
Sounds (1): A-choo (to fake a sneeze)
Letters (1): B

Shoe Fetish

Until a month ago, despite our wishes, Liam has not found himself a lovey (a creature comfort he can turn to when feeling sad and abashed). Finally, Liam has found himself a lovey: his shoes. These shoes are now one and a half sizes too small, are incredibly smelly and he can't get enough of them. He will find them in the closet and want to put them on. He refuses all other shoes and when we bought him new shoes, he said "no, no, no" over and over and eventually ripped them off.

These shoes have finally taken their last steps. I have hidden them away and bought new awesome shoes; they are even named Liam. He doesn't love them, but he might learn to tolerate them. Sometimes, I think taking a pacifier away would have been easier.

In addition to his love for his own sandals, Liam enjoys looking in our shoe closet and taking out shoes so that he can return them to their rightful owner. He will carry shoes the size of his torso around until he can give them to his Daddy or Mommy to put on.

A note from Liam

I don't know why my parents haven't posted in a while. I am obviously cuter and more interesting than ever; surely they have tons to talk about. In the last month, I have been to 2 new states (Michigan and New York), attended 2 big functions where mommy and daddy made me dress up, and have demonstrated my new communication skills--a kid can say 10 new words and yet not get a single blog post! Unfortunately, my parents didn't do a great job of taking pictures during all of these poignant times, but I will do my best to recapture some highlights. Let's start with Garvey week:

I took my first plane trip while being mobile--an extra challenge for my parents. I really like to look at planes in the sky, but once we were airborne, I quickly gave my parents the "All Done" sign. They didn't seem to get it though and they made me stay up in the air for another 90 minutes.




My Aunt Ria's un-wedding: It was a great 20's party--I am still a little skeptical that all of these people can really be related to me.








More to come--I need to get my parents to do the next post. It is exhausting watching me and trying to type on the computer.

Sweet Adeline

Liam is learning to share his house and his toys with our babysitter's daughter, Adeline--she comes part time 4 days a week now. The two were born mere weeks apart and show a blossoming friendship.


Meal times are always filled with laughter...


Enjoying the cool summer we have been having in their wagon...


Patroling the city streets together...


Trying to push each other off the couch...


But, possibly their most favorite activity is "Ring Around the Rosy" where they have mastered the "around" but are still working on the "down".

"The Knack"

 

As Scott Adams says in one of his Dilbert strips, Liam seems to have "the knack."

He's fascinated by mechanical and electrical devices and loves to "operate" them.

Recently, he learned how to take the vaccuum cleaner canister off and put it back on.

Now we just need to teach him how to dump its contents into the trash can :)

Mommy's little helper

I used to blame my lack of cleaning on Liam's need for entertainment--now I have no excuse. One of Liam's favorite activities is "helping" mommy. He likes to swiffer, is fascinated by the vacuum and he will even help me put away the laundry. The other day, I told him we had to go and put the dish towels away. He promptly picked one up and walked over to his play kitchen and put it in the sink!

Since I haven't posted in a while, I thought it would be nice to post a few more pics of the little guy.


Classic shmoosh the cat shot. I think this is only the 3rd on our blog--imagine how many more we have on our camera!


A look at his face while smooshing the cat. Couldn't be happier.


A visit from Uncle Muck wouldn't be complete without rock band.


One of the few family pictures that we have.

Kiss

I discovered that Liam learned a great new skill today - giving a kiss :) It's a wonderful new addition to our bedtime routine.
Liam is walking about 80% of the time now without help and I can tell we're on the verge of a new era of running after him. We took him to a terrific park yesterday with rubber padding all over the ground, and spent a long time following him around.

His signing vocabulary is getting bigger all the time and includes lots of animals (lion, cat, dog, pig, bird, fish...) and he's also starting to learn how to make some animal sounds (lion roar - which is adorable, woof, meow, moo).

On a visit to the zoo with his friends, he is fascinated by, of all things, a cow. To his credit, he did really like the elephant and the lion too--but he did indicate that the gorilla was a dog and had little interest.

Trying to play with the neighborhood kids that are twice his age, he ends up playing the role of the door-man.