I made a list of all the words that Alex knew last weekend, and it’s already out of date. He’s learning so fast that I can’t keep up.

Words He Could Say On Saturday

• Bye
• Ball (he can spot one a mile off)
• Nana (banana)
• Boo
• Cheek (while pointing to his cheek, very cute)
• Shoe
• Row, row (meaning, shake me all about)
• All gone (OK, it sounds like Caw Cah, but it means all gone)
• Vroom, vroom (when he wants to pretend to drive a car)
• Jes (his teddy bear)
• Ta (as in thanks – but he says it when giving things away)
• Mama (still a bit vague on who this is, but he pronounces it clearly enough)
• Dada (likewise)
• Yay (usually accompanied by clapping)
• Up (more Uh, but the meaning is clear)
• Down (OK, Duh, but he knows what he means)
• [Uh-oh] (very cute)

New Words This Week

• Peas (he caught sight of them cooking on the stove)
• [Noo-noo] (his pronunciation is weak on this one)

Words he Understands

All of the above, plus:

• Go outside (one of his earliest, and the signal to go stand by the front door. If he were a dog, he’d have his leash in his mouth.)
• Nose
• Ear
• Eye
• Tummy (he lifts his shirt and points, with a secret, confiding smile)
• Head (he pats it)
• Mouth
• Knee (very ticklish)
• Foot
• No (understands, yes. obeys, no.)
• Big Hug (he pats you on the back when he hugs you. There, there…)
• Clap, clap
• Splash, splash

He doesn’t use them in the midst of a stream of private-language words the way his cousin Tom did. His words tend to be stand-alone affairs, interspersed with discrete sections of babbling.

What fun!