Words!

Jacob has been understanding words for some time now - we can tell him to go and get something, or eat his dinner, or stop pestering the dog, and he will generally comply. except of course when he doesn't want to. He also is getting to know his body parts, and is able to point to his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, head, teeth, arms, fingers, toes, etc and do so on other people as well. None of this has been accompanied by any vocalization on his part until now. It seems that here, at the cottage, he is starting to be able to form words.

The first of these words is "BOAT", or, as he says it, " bo' ". Jacob loves boats and points to them whenever he sees them. More and more, when he points at a boat, he says boat. Then he makes boat noises like "Brrrrrumm".

He's also consistently picked up "buh-bye" and "hello" although he is so soft spoken and little that these words can also be mistaken for baby babble if you're not listening closely. but it is consistent and always accompanied by a hand wave. He says "uh-oh" when there's a problem, and that can be especially helpful when he is eating and drops something on the floor. He says "uh-oh" and we know to look before Haley snuffles in and eats whatever Jacob dropped. He says "tah dah" when he is proud of something he has done, like eat all his food or stack some blocks, and he can say yep and uh-uh.

More recently, he can say "CAR", sounding like "ca' ", whenever he sees one. Strangely, boats and cars make the same noise, that "Brrrrrumm" of which he is so fond.

He like birds ("buh"), bugs (also "buh") turtles ("tutuh") and fish ("shhh"). Some of these are context specific - you wouldn't know "shh" was fish unless you were there with him looking at the same fish he was looking at. Also, "shh" means "be quiet" if he is holding his finger to his lips.

When he sees words, he will sometimes say "blah blah blah"

He knows that ducks go "quack quack" (or more like "kag kag")

and choo choo trains go choo choo

and airplaines and spaceships go "neeerow!"

Even with all of this (and more I can't remember), most of the time he communicates with gestures and grunts. Specifically, he nods and shakes his head, and uses his hands to say "follow me" or "come on" when he's wandering around the house or outdoors. It's too cute. There he is, smallest kid in the world, wandering away and he looks back at you and gestures like "come on, let's go!" You just have to see it.