More words

Evan has been babbling a lot more creative things these days.  It's absolutely adorable if you ask me and John!  It's like he has his own little language.  Plus it's so nice that he's sometimes communicating in ways other than screams and cries and shrieks, but we still get plenty of those too.

Some of Evan's newest words, sounds, and communication feats are:

1) What's the chicken say?  Evan's been saying "mew" or "mum" for what the cat says, and for pretty much every other animal I ask about (dog, duck, etc), however the other night I was feeding him chicken at dinner and I asked if he wanted some chicken, to which he said "bak bak bak".  Well, the 'k' sound wasn't always there, but it was clear to me he was saying what a chicken says.  lol.   Now when I ask what the chicken says he correctly says "bak bak bak".

2) Cookie monster: Evan now definitely knows what a cookie is and he even says "cookie" (sounds like "kuh kuh").  If we leave the cookie jar out or when he sees the arrowroot cookie bag he wants one and starts saying "kuh kuh" (preceded with an "ahhh" shriek to get our attention that he wants something while extending his arm out in the direction of said cookie jar).  We have to remember to keep these hidden now and we spell out the word if we are not planning on giving him one.  I never thought I'd already be spelling out words with a 1-year-old!

3) I think I figured out what it is that he says when he's eating meals!  It sounded like "unh-che" (distinctly two syllables), and he says it for any kind of food he sees (not just cheese like I thought he meant originally and not just lunch).  I think he's saying eat!  The "che" sound may actually be more of a hard t sound that he's trying to make.  It makes the most sense too, because when it's time to eat, I always ask him "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat? Do you want some food?" all while doing the sign language for eat/food.  Thus, he's heard the word eat a lot.  He usually will smack his lips in response, and then when he sees the food he starts saying "unh-che", which sometimes I think is starting to sound more like "unh-tah" (with most emphasis on the "tah").

4) He's also started what seems to be his first attempts at phrases.  A few nights ago he said "ma ma bup" right as I was about to nurse him at bedtime.  Since "bup" is his word for milk, he was saying ma ma milk!  Then last night it was bedtime and I was telling him "say night night to daddy" and he said "ni ni da da".  I'm pretty amazed at what all he's learned and is putting together!

5) He also knows (and either points to or looks at when asked about) his feet, shoes, and socks. I recently was getting him ready to go somewhere and asked him where his shoes were.  He went and got one and brought it to me, for me to put on his foot.  Then I asked him to get the other one, and he went over and got it and brought it back.  It was the slowest process of putting on his shoes we've had yet, but it was a major milestone in my eyes!  He also has recently made it clear he knows his hair, mouth and nose, and sometimes his ears.  I know there are more words he understands now too that I've just forgotten to list because it's just so hard to keep up with the fast pace he's learning new things!