Our little chatterbox
pamelamyers | August 16, 2011
Well, now that the vacation flurry is over, what else has Sam been up to? Well, a lot, actually!
First, wow, has she been talking a lot. She was definitely saying words before we left for vacation, but I think being with Maddox for a week really got her going. Maddox really speaks well, using short sentences as well as repeating pretty much anything you say to him. We all, of course, respond when he talks, and I think Sam noticed that. She repeats ANYTHING you say to her now. It is so cute watching her try to form new words. Some she pronounces really well, others are sort of in “toddler speak”. One of the most exciting things is that she finally will say her own name! Of course, it comes out more like “Nam” than Sam but it is cute. She has also started identifying things with ownership, as in, “Mommy’s” or “Daddy’s”. I have noticed that Sam will generally repeat the last word of my sentences so if I am trying to get her to say a new word I make sure it’s the last thing I say. A few days ago in the car she heard me say something to Mark and what did I hear, clear as a bell from the back seat? “Dude”. Hearing that come out of her tiny little mouth was hysterical.
We have been working on getting her to say please for a while and she does that pretty well (although sometimes you have to remind her). One of the funniest things that she does now that cracks Mark up is that if she really wants you to do something or she really wants something, you get a litany of “Yes? Please? Yes? Please?” over and over again. How can you say no to that? I am now working on thank you, but it’s not going quite as well.
Our neighbor Debbie brought over Sam a box of mini Nilla wafers the other day and Sam just ate them like crazy. Now, when she wants some she says, “Cookies. Debbie.” I think it’s adorable that she knows where they came from. She has been really good at identifying her colors lately too. Blue, yellow and purple she will say pretty readily. Orange definitely seems to be her favorite color (she always gravitates to the orange anything — crayon, clothes, toys, etc.) but she hasn’t said orange yet. She has also been able to identify most body parts for a long time, but now she is really getting good and pointing to them and also saying the words. She knows at least: eyes, ears, nose, chin, neck, knees, feet, toes, hands, and hair.
She surprised me on Saturday too — I was putting her many bracelets on her arm and I was counting them. After the first one I said, “one” and as I was putting the others on she said, “two, three, nine…” Well, ok, so 9 doesn’t come after 3, but it’s progress! She seems to like the number 9 for some reason, I noticed that too.
Mark and I have been waiting for so long for her to talk that it is so much fun hearing her little voice. I know everyone says that soon we will be saying, oh my God, she never shuts up! but we are honestly enjoying all of it. I can’t wait to have whole conversations with her. Right now, she understands EVERYTHING we say and it is getting more and more fun hearing her respond in her own fashion.
Here are some random pictures we took since we got home from the beach. This first is from Mark’s company picnic which, just like last year, was on the day we got home from the beach. It was a little rainy, but we had fun anyway. Sam is holding her balloon dog that was made for her and wearing her jewelry. I will tell you, that kid gets or finds jewelry everywhere she goes!
While we were away, Krista introduced Sam to stickers which are now one of her favorite things. Here is Sam with the million stickers she put on her shirt. Oh well, it’s better than on my furniture!
Sam loves her kitty cat, but Zephyr is always running away. We were shocked at how nicely they hung out together this day.
