Ethan Ruth Harper Jack

Vocabulary Explosion!

Ethan and I were becoming aware of Harper's growing vocabulary, but were having a tough time estimating just-how-large it could be, so we started a list. The following words are ones Harper can communicate, ones she consistently represents the same way every time she intends. Some of the words are very clear or very close to the way an adult would say it, and are recognizable by anyone listening. Others are sign words, which I've marked with a star. Others are words she communicates with a sign/gesture combined with a sound, which I've explained in parenthesis.

Mama
Dada
book
dog dog
ruff ruff
hi *
bye *
duck (sounds almost like a 'quack, quack')
kitty cat (scratches her face by her mouth, says a high-pitched mmmm sound)
all done *
sleep *
phone *
flower *
tree *
silly *
yay! *
bad cat!
up
down
food (says mmm, as if enjoying yummy food)
love (sounds like 'va')
kisses (makes an mmmmah! sound while kissing her hand)
hat
that
light
cow (moos)
lion (roars)
monkey (says ooo- ooo)
giraffe *
bee (makes a zzzzzzah! sound)
snake (makes an ssssss sound)
bird (pinches finger and thumb, says 'tweet, tweet')
ball
mouse (makes an eee- eee sound)
elephant *
brush *
shoes *
bear
fish
push
baby *
owl (makes a whoo- whoo sound)
hop (for bunny rabbit)
shirt
bib
po po
hair *
curls *
hug *
yawn *
boob (said when she wants to nurse)
one * (holds up one finger when asked, "How old are you?")

I believe that's 52 words... and counting. Every day she says something new. It's fun to find which word will miraculously pop out of her mouth today.

We did not include her receptive language here, words she clearly understands like "dance" (she bounces when told to dance) or "scratch" (she scratches surfaces when prompted to), etc. She knows lot of her body parts and can identify them when asked. She can follow commands like "go get the hanger and give it to Mama". She started to play along with the "How big is Harper? sooooo big!" game recently, too. She seems to understand most everything we're saying. She's even sensitive to inflection and gets teary when she thinks she's in trouble or has done something she shouldn't have. We're careful not to sound too harsh when we're telling her to stop what she's doing, or not to drop food on the ground, but she is a sensitive girl and gets upset if she thinks she's disappointed us. There was simply too much receptive language to be able to count. But this list represents the words she can express at her whim... a lot for a girl who just turned one year old!