Language Explosion

Ollie signing MORE
Ollie signing CRACKER
CRACKER again
Ollie signing WATER

Ok, maybe that's a bit overblown, since what I really mean to say is, "OLLIE SAID HIS FIRST WORD!!!" What an exciting day. Ollie can now say, clear as day, "bubbles." It's interesting that his first word wasn't "mama" or "dada" but "bubbles." Of course he has his own little words for things, like an extremely high pitched "didi" for dog, which maybe should count because that isn't just a random babble, it's just his way of saying dog. (He is very interested in dogs. I think I helped encourage this so that I'll have an ally in a few years when I mount my "we need a dog campaign" in earnest.) Ollie also can sort of say "ball" but it sounds more like a very breathy, reverent, "ba".

Where his communication has really taken off is in sign language. In the last two weeks he has picked up so many new signs. He even signs to us things that we haven't tried to teach him in months. He must have been absorbing it all waiting for a chance to bust 'em out.

The funniest sign he does is for HELP, which is usually right hand in a fist, supported by the flat, open palm of the left, and then both raised up together. Ollie's version of this sign is a very imperious single clap of his hands...as in "I couldn't possibly be bothered to climb down the stairs today, pick me up now!" Clap! or "I need to check out the contents of this baby-proofed cabinet, open it for me now!" Clap! I came home from a Young Women's activity last night and a somewhat perplexed Ryan said "Ollie's been doing this weird clap all night. Is that a sign for something?" I can only imagine that Oliver was equally perplexed that Ryan wasn't picking up on his requests/commands for HELP!

Ollie's favorite sign is his sign for CRACKER, which unfortunately is now a general term for anything he'd like to eat, so interpreting what kind of "cracker" he's in the mood for takes a certain amount of trial and error.

We are particularly excited about Ollie's language skills because our nitwit pediatrician had said that the reason he wasn't talking yet was because his brain was starving. She thought that he wasn't getting enough calories to support brain development and suggested that we start giving him nasal tube feedings at night. That was extremely upsetting, to say the least! My theory is that the same delayed oral-motor skills that are giving him such a hard time chewing and eating, are also giving him a hard time forming words. Anyway, now we know that he doesn't have cognitive deficits just because he's a featherweight contender. As Grandpa Ford would say (and in fact has, with no irony, on more than one occasion,) "Ollie's not retarded at all," ...as if the matter were under consideration.