Life’s Chaos June 24, 2011

I’ve been remiss about writing again. sigh…  So what excuse do I have this time? How about buying a new house?!

We’ve been casually looking for a few months now – a tricky thing to do since Aleksander’s nap coincides with most open house times. A few weeks ago, we finally saw a house we really liked. We continued to look, but found ourselves comparing the other houses to that first one. So we went back for a second look and put in an offer. A mere two hours later we got the news that the sellers had accepted our offer! We’re now going through the inspection process. Closing date is scheduled for July 18. Crazy!!

Of course we’re also busy planning the decorating and new furniture. There’s so much to think about. So many plans to make. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for writing … or anything else.

We’re having to leave Aleksander with a number of different sitters through all of this. He’s being quite a trooper. But all the time spent with sitters means he’s getting a lot of English. Some days I feel like I only speak German with him to compensate and make sure he’s getting enough German input. And I still feel like I’m falling short!

Aleksander isn’t talking much. The only word he says lately is truck. But he does have a few new signs: cookie, flower, and ball. And he’s started doing the motions to songs like “Itsy, Bitsy Spider” (which we also sing in German, of course, thanks to Mummy do that!). It’s super cute

So I’ll continue doing my best to split our days between English and German. And I’ll write when I can!

Words!!! June 14, 2011

Doesn’t it just figure? Since writing that post about Aleksander’s lack of speech, he’s started talking!! You definitely have to know what he’s saying. It usually just sounds like a jumble of sounds. But I know they have meaning. He’s not using his words all the time, and of course he won’t say a word when I ask him to! But he’s said them enough times now that I know we have language production. I get such a thrill every time I hear him say a word

So here’s what he’s saying and when he started saying it (just for the record):

• again (a-deh) – he’s actually been saying this for months now
• Dada (A-da) – mid-April
• Mama (A-ma) – May 2nd
• dog – May 6th (but then stopped for a few weeks – now saying it again)
• truck – June 2nd
• cracker – June 5th (only a few times, but he really said this big word!)
• car – June 5th
• Traktor – June 10th

I don’t even know how to begin to transcribe what most of these words sound like! I’ve noticed that he generally doesn’t say the first consonant(s) of a word. I have no idea if this is typical for early language development. But that’s what he’s doing.

And of course, almost all of these words are English. However… I learned from Anika to say “truck” in German too. Now I just looked it up and can’t find any evidence that this is true (she’s been living in the US for too long, I think!). Oh well. The point here is that he’s using this word when we speak German as well as English.

More significantly, he definitely says “Traktor” in German!! He has a German book about a farm, and he loves the tractor picture (no surprise, since I usually bounce him in my lap and make a loud tractor-like noise when we point it out). Now he opens the book and says “achtr” or something that really does sound like “Traktor“! Amazing!

I’ve been told that his language production will be like a switch turning on: all of a sudden, he’ll just take off talking. I still think that will happen. But for now, it’s a little more like getting to the lower level on a dimmer switch   I feel like I can see his awareness of language and words coming to life.

It isn’t just his spoken production that has begun, but he’s signing a lot more too. I’ve been using a handful of signs with him for a long time. Around 13 months, he got the idea and started using the “more” sign all the time. Over the months he’s added more signs to his vocabulary. But just in the last few weeks, he’s added about five new ones. He also spends a lot of time looking at a set of baby sign language flash cards. No, I don’t sit there quizzing him! He really likes looking at the pictures. So I sit with him and say the words of the images and make the signs or say the word after he signs it. Some of his signs are very clear. But just like his spoken language, sometimes you have to know what he’s saying.

Aleksander’s signs (as much in order as I can remember):

1. more
2. milk
3. eat
4. bath
5. hi / bye
6. all done / all gone
7. no
8. play
9. airplane
10. Where’d it go?
11. yes
12. light
13. hot
14. fish
15. book
16. spider
17. bed / bedtime
18. shoes

I am just fascinated by this process. It’s great to be a first-hand observer of it all!