Joel's Vocabulary

Joel has quite a few words in his vocabulary now!

In sign language he can say...

• more
• eat
• milk
• excuse me (when he burps or toots. Or when someone else does so. This might be my favorite! :)
• please (This is probably his most common word. He says it all. the. time. We originally taught him to do it in conjunction with "more" to ask politely for food. He says it for everything now, but seems to think that as long as he says it he can get anything he wants. Sadly, he has learned this is not the case. Sometimes the polite sentiment behind the word gets lost in translation as he's signing please but collapsed in a heap on the floor having a tantrum because we won't give him a steak knife.)

He can verbalize...

• Car (this is both car and cracker, depending on the context)
• Key
• Puff (his snacks)
• Mama
• Dada
• Light
• Door (usually means he wants to go outside)
• Bye bye
• Bubble
• Kitty
• Woof woof (for dog)
• Nose
• Ball
• "quirl" (squirrel)
• CD (He likes to play with old cd's and quickly learned how to say it. It's so randomly hilarious, I love it!)

He loves to clap any time he hears the word. He recognizes the song "If you're happy & you know it" & starts clapping. And there's so many other words that he understands, just can't say quite yet--like body parts (eyes, ears, tongue, etc.) and he can identify himself and us in pictures, along with other simple instructions. It's so fun to watch him learn new words every day & to be able to communicate with us. I might be biased, but I think he's super smart!