Arf, Arf

Amanda will be 15 months old tomorrow. She goes in for her well visit in the morning. When we went in for her one year well visit one of the questions they asked, to make sure she is developing correctly and on track, was "How many words can she say?". They were only looking for between 1-3, but I know tomorrow they will want it to be more. Right now, we're still at zero.

I could use the excuse that she doesn't talk because she has a brother and sister that do all the talking for her, but that's not quite true. She spends a lot of time with just me, while the kids are at school, so they aren't always around to do her bidding. I'm not sure why she doesn't speak. She doesn't even say hi. The closest thing she comes to a word is when you give her something to eat and she really likes it she says "mmmm". That's sort of yum, so maybe yum is her first word? Oh yeah, this kid isn't going to have any eating issues growing up.

She doesn't talk, but she makes lots of noise. When she wants something she say "ma", loudly and repeatedly, I think because she is trying to say more. So today Sarah was eating a Wendy's frosty in the car while we were waiting to pick up Andy, and Amanda sat there next to her just saying "ma ma ma" over and over again. She screams when she doesn't like something or doesn't get what she wants and she cries when she doesn't like what you say or do.

I've tried to teach her sign language, and she's slowly starting to use it. Andy and Sarah also used sign language, and it helps a ton. I don't teach them anything fancy, just more and eat and milk, stuff they need on a regular basis. Once someone asked me if I taught my child how to sign bird, and since that doesn't help me in any way I couldn't understand why I would want to do that. If it's going to make my life easier, I'm all for it. Otherwise, no need.

The one thing Amanda does do is bark. It's a combination bark and chirp like a bird. Any time she sees an animal, or hears a dog bark, she starts barking. It's really cute, and shows she is recognizing things and understanding how things work. The other morning she was sleeping in our bed because her allergies have been driving her crazy and she can't sleep at night. She woke up, sat up, and started barking. I'm not sure why, maybe she heard the neighbors dog barking, but she just kept going. Now when I ask her what a dog says, she barks. Of course, if I asked her what a zebra or giraffe or donkey said, she would bark then too. It's not the point of what sound she's making, it's that she knows it's an animal and makes some sort of noise.

This is the stuff that I love about babies and their journey into toddlerhood and further. They don't know anything, but they slowly start to figure it out and piece it all together. She understands so much that we do and say, I just wish I could get into that little head and figure out what she's thinking. The fact that she's not talking, I'm cool with that. Because if she' anything like the other two, once she starts she'll never stop. So for now, I'm perfectly happy with some barking here and there.