Language and non-verbal communication, 18.5 months

Over the past month or so Cameron's language and non-verbal communication skills have kind of exploded. It is so much fun to watch! It is getting hard to remember and keep track of all the things she is doing so I wanted to get it all down in a blog post.

GESTURES & ACTIONS
When asked Cam will do the following:

• Blow kisses
• Give high fives
• Wave bye-bye (she also does this without being asked in the appropriate situations)
• Brush her hair (go find her brush and *try* to brush her hair)
• Ride her elephant (if I tell her "go ride your elephant" she runs over and gets on her rocking elephant)
• Point to her nose
• Point to her belly
• Clap
• Dance
• Find the baby (run to the mirror in her room and point to herself)
• Bring me a book
• Put her arms up (when taking off her shirt I'll say "arms up!" and she puts her arms up)
• Come here (of course only when she feels like it)
• Give me something (I'll say "can I have that?" and she gives it to me)
• Shake shake shake (gets her maracas)

PROMPTED WORDS

Cameron understands the meaning and will say the following words when prompted:

• Night night *nyny* (I say "want to go night night?" and she says night night)
• Belly *bebby* (I ask her "where's your belly", she points to it and says belly)
• Nose *no* (I ask her "where's your nose", she points to it and says nose)
• Clap *clap* (when I ask her to clap she will clap and say the word clap)
• Dance *dah* (when I ask her to dance she will dance and say the word dance)
• Shake *shik* (when I tell her to shake her shakers she shakes them and says shake)

UNPROMPTED WORDS

Cameron says the following words without prompting in the appropriate situations:

• Doggie *doddee*
• Dada *dada*
• Mama *mama*
• Baby *baby* (when she sees herself in the mirror)
• Ball *bah*
• Bye bye *bah bah* (she says this if I am putting on her coat or someone is opening a door)
• All done *ahda* (she sometimes says this when she is done with her food)
• Nana *nana* (for banana, this one is questionable)

I think she is doing great and is just where she needs to be. It's a lot of fun teaching her words and actions and seeing her language and communication develop. She is getting a lot better at trying to tell us what she wants (pointing at items she wants, going to the fridge/high chair when she is hungry, saying my name when I have an object that she wants, etc). They say at this age a child understands most of what is said to them and I feel like that is true. They also say that up until a certain age (maybe 3?) only 50% of what toddlers say is understood by others. It's interesting how parents can pick up on words that other people would never understand. For example, when Cameron says "doggie", she really says "doddee", so it kind of sounds like "daddy" but we know what she means. She says it SO consistently every single time she sees the dog that I am sure that's what she is saying. Plus when she actually says "dada" it sounds different than her words for doggie. Anyways, I may end up doing this type of post monthly depending on how fast she is making progress. Like I said earlier it's getting harder to remember what and how many words she has and I would like to keep track of it so I can look back.