Communicating

Jacob doesn't have any words right now. And that's ok-were not worried about it. He is a younger sibling and everyone we talk to says it is typical for younger siblings to take longer to talk, since the older sibling often does the talking, meaning that the younger sibling gets what he wants or gets his point across without necessarily having to say words. Also, Jacob is a boy, and everyone we talk to says that boys typically talk later than girls, and we always have to remind ourselves that Sophia talked very early.

Even with all of that, though, we are kind of looking forward to the day when Jacob will start to use some words. Yes, we know that that means he will likely be talking nonstop after that, but right now he clearly has unexpressed wants and needs and it would be so much easier if he would just say something. His favorite form of communication at this point is the "point and grunt" which works for him most of the time but we often don't know exactly what he is pointing at or what he wants with it.

So all of this is to say that I was pleasantly surprised when Jacob today made a little progress in the communication area. No words, of course, but evidence that he is trying harder to make his point known. We were playing the playroom and he was doing his own thing, and he comes to me and says "juh" (mostly just the "j" sound) and holds up this card that you see at the top of this post. I say to him "do you want some juice?) and he does that half-nod, half-shake thing that means yes. So we go and get some juice. Communicating with flashcards is an acceptable form of communication, right?

Oh and that nod/shake thing? That's progress too. He used to shake his head (looking like he is saying no) when he wants to say yes. Very confusing. Point-grunt; "oh, do you want this?"; shakes head (but meaning yes); "no? ok, what do you want then?"... Very frustrating for everyone involved.