All about Delenn at 14 1/2 months

We decided to sit down and come up with a list of some of the signs
Delenn uses. She is 14 1/2 months old and knows about fifty signs. She
says only a handful of words, so signing is key in our communication
with her. We're pretty impressed with how much she knows. Here are the
ones she actually signs (even if they are not completely correct). She
knows more than she uses:

WORDS SHE SIGNS:

dad/mom (though they are separate words, she uses just the sign "dad"
for both of us)
Logan (we have a specific sign for Logan -- twisting an L near the cheek)

Where?
eat
milk
water
all done

up (pick me up)
bath (take a bath)
sit down
put on clothes
go poos
brush teeth
sleep
work/job (she'll sign Daddy's at work "Daddy work")
yucky/dirty

turn the light on
turn the light off
sun
hot
ready to go
hat
shoes
go outside

swing
bye/hello
night night
moon
twinkle (as in "Twinkle twinkle little star")
star

doll
hair
brush
airplane
baby
fan
flower

hear
mouse
fish
bird
crocodile
snake
elephant
monkey
lion (uses this sign for tiger as well, though there's a separate word)
dog
frog
cat (sort of )
horse (uses this for cow, deer and reindeer as well)

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WORDS SHE SAYS:

up (her clearest word. She signs it and says it at the same time)
dat
hot
da (for dad/mom)
hat
jump (sounds more like urump, but it is clearly a word for her)

-----------------
TRIVIAL STUFF:

She understands much more than she can communicate, for example, she
signed the word for "coffee" when Mommy did it (and told her she could
not drink it)

She makes simple sentences using two signs such as:
Daddy's at work (Daddy work)
Logan is sleeping (Logan sleep)
I hear the dog (Hear dog)

She knows and can point to her
eyes
ears
nose
mouth
cheek
teeth
feet
fingers
She can point and find lots of pictures in a book.

She shakes her head no -- especially when she does something she's not
supposed to like spitting out her milk or sending all her food flying
onto the floor.

She gives kisses to Logan when he has to say sorry, kisses her doll and
gives kisses to us at night. She also knows how to blow kisses.

She is very affectionate with her stuffed bears and dolls (and other
cuddly animals). Her favorite game is sitting at the little picnic
table with the dishes and fake food and pretending to have a tea party.
She takes the pieces from a connect four game and uses those chips for
all sorts of things -- putting them into little cups and into her little
purse, for example. She plays a lot with Logan's airplanes, rockets and
cars -- and plays with him pretty well. They'll both fly or drive them
around the living room. She likes pushing buttons and making things
go--so she spends time playing with those kinds of toys as well (but not
for long periods as she does with the dishes or the Connect Four
chips). She likes playing Legos with Logan, but unfortunately destroys
a lot more than she's able to put together (not on purpose, but it makes
Logan MAD!) She enjoys books -- and her current favorite is a picture
book with lots of different objects (clothes, toys, animals,
cars/trucks, flowers etc.) We spend a lot of time pointing to and
finding various objects. She asks "dat"? and wants to know what things
in the book are called. She also really enjoys the Animal Baby
magazines. Delenn loves hats and spends a lot of time putting on her
(and any one else's hats). Unfortunately, she also enjoys putting the
gallon ziplock bags on her head (as a hat), so we've had to lock those
away.

Delenn is very firm in what she wants. If she signs "go outside" --
you'd better let her go out back or be prepared for a temper tantrum!
She makes it well know when Logan has snatched from her. She still
tries to commandeer Mommy's lap time -- especially if she sees Logan
wants to snuggle.

While Delenn is very easy to put to sleep or down for a nap (after
books, a nursing and kisses), she still gets up for a night feed at 1 or
2 am and then again at 5am (and she'll go back to sleep for another hour
and a half). The night waking was especially bad when we were in
Brisbane because her molars were coming through, but happily all four of
those have broken through! Whew!

That's about it for now!