Words

Zack is learning more words every day. Some of it is repetition without a strong concept attached, but some word-concepts are very developed. The last few days, the big ones have been "done" and "bye." He says "done" when the snack is finished or the puzzle completed or the book is over, and he says "bye" when people leave, when we leave the house, and when he puts his toys out of sight. Last night he was pushing his cars as far as he could reach under the couch and saying "bye" very emphatically. He has also started to cry when we say "bye" to Alex---I think it's just a very powerful concept for him at the moment. "Hi" also remains powerful, and is still his most frequent word. The rest of his spoken vocabulary seems to be built around the sounds that he can easily make: "Buh" is mostly bus, but also book and boots, and "bah" is ball and box. He says "baby" for himself and other babies. He says "eyes" and finds them on people, on toys, and in books. He has started to say "ha" for hat. And he says "Mom-mom" and "Dad-dad."

Repetition-wise, he mimics me when I say "No no" (he says "na na na,") but I don't think he has a real concept for that yet. And if I tell him a short simple word for a thing he will often try to copy me---last night he said "man" very clearly, and this morning it was "pen" ("ben.") He mimics nonsense sounds very well, if they are sounds he can make. He doesn't seem to remember how to say /g/, and affricatives like /s/ and /f/ are hard---he says them on their own, but not in syllables. Unvoiced consonants like /k/ and /t/ and /p/ aren't here yet, and no /l/ either. He can say /r/ but only at the end of a syllable. So given the number of sounds he can actually say, I think the number of words he has is pretty impressive. And given his recent interest in mimicking, I think both sounds and words are about to take off.

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