Communication

Although Alex is totally a genius baby, he hasn't been in any hurry to talk (at least in a language other than babble).  I haven't been too concerned, though.  He understands words, but he hasn't had a lot of interest in repeating them himself.  He's been saying Dada & Mama for quite awhile now but not really in reference to Michael or me.  More like he likes the sound.  His first "actual" word came awhile ago (sometime in January, I think?  I'm a bad mom - I didn't write it down.) - "SSSSS" for Sadie, our dog.  He loves to point at her & say "SSSSS" whenever she comes in from outside or whenever he hears her bark outside.  Sadie hasn't appeared to be impressed that he bestowed the honor of his first word on her.  Ha.

Recently, we've gotten a few more words from him.  Next was "Uh oh" - a favorite among children.  He says it more like "Uh uh uh oh oh" & just repeats the sounds several times.  I can't help but be tickled over the cuteness of his little voice.  Then came "Nanana" for banana.  Last week he started saying "Yeah".  I was getting his food ready & asked, "Do you want this for dinner?"  He just casually replied, "Yeah."  He's done it a few times since then - I just love it.  Finally, this weekend he really took to saying Dada & Mama to get our attention.  My favorite instance - Michael walked in from the garage yesterday & Alex happily cried, "Dada!"  Melts my heart.

Alex has also been learning some sign language.  He's been doing "more" and "please" for a few months.  The boy likes to eat & it's not surprising he picked up on the signs to get more food first!  If he wants more, he'll sign "more, please" over & over again until he gets it.  It makes me laugh.  In the last week, he started signing "thank you", "milk" & "eat".  This morning, I asked if he was hungry.  He ran to his highchair & signed "eat".  Genius school!  I love seeing him make the connection between a sign or word & it's meaning.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of another of Alex's accomplishments. 

Why sit on the dishwasher when you can stand??  Little monkey!