19 Month & language update!

Today Dax is 19 months old! I feel like he's made a lot of verbal improvement since his 18 month post (technically, since he got his tongue tie clipped), so is due for an update for my records. He's also demonstrated that he recognizes colors and will ask for them by name (via ASL). He can now reach the light switches in almost every room in the house, and doorknobs, too.

Weight 31 lbs
Length 36.5"
Head Circumference 19.75"
Clothing Size 4T (shirts) , 12-18mo pants, 3T/4T underwear, 8.5xw shoe

Verbal vocabulary (22 "words") Dada, mama, up, Daddy, Mommy, buh (bus), nana (banana), booo (blue), up, gukie (cookie), gabble (garbage), ah eee (candy), doh (go), buh (bus), bubble, opsickle (popsicle), poo poo, pee pee, no, bye, ukgie (yucky), wahwah (water)

Signing vocabulary (over 70 words, most listed here)
all done/finished
again
apple
asleep
baby
balloon
banana
bath
bear
bed
blocks
blue
book
brush hair
brush teeth
bubbles
build
butterfly
candy
car
cat
cereal
cheese
clean
clothes
cold
cracker
Daddy
dog
down
drink
eat/food
fold laundry
get dressed
go
grapes
green
hair
hat
help
horse
hot
ice cream
keys
messy/dirty
milk
Mommy
more
music
open
opposite
orange
outside
peas
phone
play
popcorn
potty
rain
raisin
shirt
shoes
sit
sleep
slide
snow
socks
spider
stop
sweep
thank you
train
tree
wash hands
water
work
you


What Dax Likes His favorites right now include music, HORSES, blocks, balloons, bubbles, swimming, outdoors, and climbing. He really enjoys dancing to music, most times if he hears music he will spontaneously dance to the beat. Loves it if the music has instructions like "clap your hands" or "jump up high" and he actually does the movements for songs now, so that's pretty fun. One of his favorite songs is the ABC song, his leapfrog toy plays it for him. It's super cute to watch him dance to that now, though, because he moves his fingers trying to "finger spell" the alphabet and he totally doesn't have enough dexterity to do it yet! Haha, cute that he tries. He'll ask me to finger spell for him when the song comes on now - and sometimes I show him the ASL signs for letters when he's building his blocks. That's pretty fun, too, he'll keep handing me new blocks to see those letters.

I know I've written it before, but this is seriously my favorite favorite favorite age! He's so much fun! He's enthused about life and adventure and anything new. He's an animated happy little toddler with an adorable grin that lights up the room and my heart.

Here's a pic of him bundled up for a snowy walk:


I swapped out my Britax Marathon for the Recaro Como that was in hubby's car, as it can rear face to 35 pounds instead of 33 and that might get us to age 2 with Dax rear facing. It also has about 3" more torso space in height. It is a VERY tall seat!



Posting these next two as representations of Dax's common facial expressions.

Dax visited nursery!

Today I took Dax to visit nursery! I took him in about 30 minutes into the class, about the start of their snack time.

Even though I felt fairly sure that Dax would be fine in there without me, I have my own worries about me missing him! Or other kids rough-housing or picking on him.

So anyway, I took Dax into the classroom to join 10 other toddlers in there today. He was very interested in the other kids and what they were doing. He happily ate goldfish snacks with them at the table, and a little girl seated next to him ended up taking his plate and giving him his fish one-by-one, it was really adorable for both of them! I also noticed that the little girl knows sign language (I'm sure he noticed first)!!! YAY, another kid in there who will understand Dax! She signed "please" when she wanted more - I certainly noticed. Dax & her were super cute together - she'd give him a fish, and he'd sign "thank-you" and smile at her really big. I was actually a bit surprised that he let her take his plate of food! Food is a big deal to that boy, haha.

He gleefully laughed during bubble time. He danced to the music during dance time. He sat in his little chair and participated with a happy/sad paper face during lesson time. He did hand motions for songs they sang during singing time, and whenever they sang a word he recognized, he'd do the ASL sign for it. At the end they sang a song about families and when the word "Daddy" was used he frantically started signing "Daddy" and looking for him and then tried to leave the room to go find him. :) Unfortunately Dax can easily reach the doorknob and open the door, so I'll have to warn the leaders to watch for that in a few weeks when he's in there without me.

We did stay the remainder of the time but I really wasn't near Dax or giving him any attention. I did help with some other kids who needed guidance to follow the group and listen to the teacher, and I took a crying kid out to a parent (Dax saw me leave but couldn't really care less, nor was he even a teensy bit excited when I reappeared). I did stand right behind him closely during play-doh, but that's because I knew he'd try to eat it. I kept taking it from his lips and reminding him not to eat it. After doing that a dozen times in a row, he stopped attempting to eat it. Hopefully he'll get over his desire to consume play-doh soon. :)

So nursery was good, the 1.5 hours we were there flew by quick. The teachers agreed Dax should just come to all of it next week, and the week after that is his official week to "start" without me in there. I think I'll offer to help out for a few more weeks and maybe they'll ask me to stay. :) There are a lot of new kids that recently turned 18-months right in a row around Dax's age, and several of them need to be held and have one-on-one time to comfort them and distract them from the fact that their parent left them. And they are so sweet and cuddly and LIGHT - seriously, even those few older kids that are a couple inches taller than Dax weigh less than he does by a good 5+ pounds.

I can't believe my SON is old enough for nursery! :) And he loved it! He was excitedly "talking" about it with his hands after church, telling Daddy how he colored with "crayons" and sang "music" and played with "friends" hee hee. :)

Sign Language fun

Dax's sign language skills are increasing and it is making life easier for both of us. I LOVE SIGN LANGUAGE!

Here's an example: Yesterday, I heard him grunting and making little displeased sound effects. I looked over and saw he was trying to reach a ball that had gone back behind an end table and was out of his reach. His grunting from efforts of trying to reach it quickly escalated into whining and fussing and crying.
I asked him, "Dax, what do you want?"
All the frustration visibly drained from his body, he paused for a second or two, and then signed "help" and pointed to his ball.

It's amazing. There are times when he seems like a little caveman, with his grunts and yells and weird little toddler tantrums. It does seem like he is very frustrated sometimes. Signing has given him a way to communicate. A way to be understood. A way to participate in conversation. It's teaching him, at the ripe old age of 1, to use language to communicate.

Oh, and the conversation participation is funny! He's accumulated a signing vocabulary of 35+ words last time I counted. It's surprising how often those words come up in conversation when my husband & I are talking with each other, and Dax will sign! Let's say I talked about the neighbor's dog... right when I say "dog" then Dax starts making the sign for "dog". He just wants to participate. Letting us know that he understands what we're talking about, even though he can't speak. When we look over at him, he's usually wearing a very proud-of-himself grin.

Signing has increased his previous love of books. Now he reads books and signs to the pictures. I'll catch him "reading" on his own, too. I'll peek in his room to see what he's doing, and he'll have a book on his lap, turning pages. He'll flip to the next page and do a sign for the picture on that page! This he does even when he thinks he's alone!
He never really liked the book Goodnight Moon until I read it to him and signed. Then he loved it. That book has 10+ signs in it that he already knows. Signing along as I'm reading is something he loves to do. I can't help but love something that brings my son this much enthusiasm and excitement. I'm sure he could easily double his signing vocabulary in just a week, if he had more exposure. Mommy wouldn't be able to keep up, though! ;)

Sign language & other Dax cuteness

Dax is really getting into sign language this week. He's using it a LOT and learning new signs. He also made up a sign for hairbrush the same day I taught him the sign for toothbrush. I haven't looked up hairbrush to see what the actual sign is for it, but he uses the 1-finger like tooth brush but pretends to brush his hair with his finger instead of brushing his teeth with his finger. Although he barely has any hair at all and it doesn't need brushing, he likes to play with his hairbrush when I am brushing my hair.

Dax signs:
more
milk
hat
bath
book
water
eat
dog
potty
toothbrush
hairbrush
fan

On our morning walk today and he made the dog sign. We hadn't yet seen a dog, so I looked around, then I spotted the one he'd seen - inside the window of a house we were passing. It is so much fun to have him bring up topics and try to communicate with me!

He also brings me toys and books. He requests songs he'd like to hear by doing finger play (like, he does itsy bitsy spider hands when he wants me to sing that song). Oh, and he recently started running to me and hugging my legs with his arms while giggling. I love this age. :)