(19 months) Emily has several ways to communicate with her outside world. I thought that it would be good to document what she is doing at this point.

Actions – Emily has several ways to comunicate with us through actions. If she wants us to do something with her she takes our hands and leads us to the location of what she wants. She will sometimes get Mommy out of a chair and then get Daddy and take him to a baby gate expecting Mommy to also follow. Emily will also bring books and toys to you when she wants to play with you. Lastly she loves to dance to music. She dances when encouraged, but also on her own when inspired by the music.

Sign Language – Emily will sign to us to communicate her needs and wants. Some of the words are based on our expected response or just to tell us information. The signs she is using right now are: juice, milk, please, baby, and more. She also nods her head yes and no. Her head noding is more accurate than her choice of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in words. Her favorite request is to ask for juice.

Words – Emily has been talking for quite a while and has more words than we can understand. She loves to babble, but I think there are real words imbeded in her babble that we just do not understand. When she doesn’t have her pacifier in her mouth she babbles even more. The words that she uses fairly often and are understandable are: thank you, OK, Da or Daty (Daddy), all done, yes, no, hi, shoes, bye-bye, think-think-think, and oh boy. As much as I would enjoy it she hasn’t added Mommy to her daily language. ‘Think-think-think’ is a phrase used on the Pooh and Tigger cartoon. ‘Oh boy’ is a phrase used on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse by Mickey. She uses ‘oh boy’ appropriately, but only uses ‘think-think-think’ when the show is on.