DEH, DAH, DA...

My one year old son is getting more and more vocal every day. Even though his words sound similar, I can tell he is communicating different things.

We have a three deer (Larry, Curly and Moe?) hanging on my husband’s wall (when we built this house, one wall was designated as my husband’s where he could hang whatever he wanted and I wouldn’t say anything, but the rest of the walls were to be animal free). Jed loves the deer. He talks to them every day and says goodnight to them every night. He loves them as much as he loves the cats. Well maybe not as much as Earl since Earl does let Jed tackle him on occasion. But he loves the deer. A few months ago he pointed to the deer and said is first word, DEH. It made his daddy proud.

Then yesterday morning, I had just sat down in the car after buckling Jed in. In a very loud voice Jed says DAH. Confused, I looked to the backseat to see Jed pointing to the top step leading into the house. There sat Hank, our blue heeler. Dog! Then when we were dropping my stepdaughter off at the high school, I caught a glimpse of Jed as she was getting out of the car. He was waving to her on his own, a silent, open and closing of his hand. This was one of the first times that he was waving good-bye on his own, without a prompt from anyone.

Not only are we trying to teach him words, we are trying to incorporate a few simple sign language movements for things like More, Thank you, Eat and All Done. He already figured out No on his own. You ask if he wants more food and if the answer is No, he will either politely shake his head back and forth or sometimes not so politely sweep all the food onto the floor. It was wonderful to see him use the More signal the first time. He doesn’t do it exactly right but that’s okay. He does it his way, a way that he can communicate and we understand.

Each day brings new words, new expressions, new accomplishments. I am always surprised when I see him do something new such as waggle the remote at the TV. Or toddle of with a book to climb in my lap. Or read a book by himself, turning the pages and opening and closing each flap on the page. This one amazes me in that he hasn’t torn any of the flaps off, just carefully opens each one to smile at the picture hiding underneath. And what about that first unasked for baby kiss, slobbery and sweet, all at the same time. I never know what new wonderous things we will enjoy each day and each day I can’t wait to find out…