Starting to Talk

So I’ve been meaning to keep track of Whitney’s language and her first words.  Where I have a difficult time is that her “words” are often decipherable to me but not others, including Russell.  Also she often says the beginning sound of a word but doesn’t have the articulation for the entire word, so does that count?  I’ll list below what it is that she says (and what that means) and attempt not to resolve the debate about whether it counts as a word.

1. “Per” – Chompers
2. “No No No” – Usually used to tell Chompers not to do something, invoked when Chompers is digging in the dirt or trying to eat table food
3. “Boon” – Balloon (as in “I need one right now” if we’re at Harris Teeter or Trader Joes)
4. “Nigh Nigh” – I’m tired and ready to go to sleep
5. “Bye Bye”  (if said to me then because she wants to do something like leave a park or eat sand and she is dismissing me so she can be sneaky)
6. “Hi” – she’ll often say this when she picks up the phone and hold it to her ear
7. Ma- Grandma
8. Dada – Russell
9. Bpa – Grandpa
10. “soo” – spoon
11. “wa wa” – water
12. Woof woof- I see a dog and know they bark
13. Ooom- the sound a cow makes but with the sounds backwards
14. baa  – sheep sound
15. imagine a snort sound – the sound a pig makes AND/OR a sleeping sound
16. book
17. this
18. that
19. hot
20. eek a poo – peek a boo
21. “Ball”
22. uga uga uga uga hoo hoo – the sound a train makes
23. stuh – strawberry
24. bear
25. bare bare bare – blueberry
26. bird
27. shoo (shoe)
28. yum yum yumm (I liked the taste of that)
29. bubble
30. ack ack ack (the sound a duck makes)
31. fuh (fan)
32. “Ahh” – I’d like to brush my teeth
33. beep beep (often used for electronic beeps like the microwave or a car horn)
34. ba ba – Barney (when she says this she’ll hold the remote and point it toward the TV so I understand the message in context- when I told her today that Barney was sleeping then she snorted her sleeping sound)
35. boom boom – the sound a trash truck makes
36. burbie – burp
37. moe – more (whatever she was eating, unless it’s broccoli slaw or carrots)
38. “UmmUmmUmm”- milk (as in, I want some now!) 

I’m sure there’s more but I can’t think of any off the top of my head. 

Whitney’s favorite activity these days is water play.  She can fill and empty cups and spoons for hours.  I’m also noticing a beginning of pretend play as her stuffed animals often need to have their diapers changed (yes they wear diapers!), are thirsty for water and milk, and sit in car seats.

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