our words

From time to time I need to stop and think about what the boys actually can say. I mentioned in a MUCH EARLIER post where they were in terms of learning to speak so its time for me to evaluate again. If you didn't read the previous post, or you are not familiar w/ international adoption you may not realize that having heard one language for more than a year and then having it totally disappear to be replaced w/ another language you have never heard before causes some challenges in learning to speak. Our boys who will be 2 1/2 at the end of this month are definitely not speaking as well as their home grown peers. Nor would we expect them to be.

We have them in speech therapy and we feel they are coming along great. Their receptive language is amazing. We don't think there is anything that they don't understand. It's their expressive language that is just starting to come along.

We also have to be aware that boys typically lag behind girls, twins lag behind singulars. I actually am seeing a lot of changes in them, especially in the last month. We are starting to hear some two word combos popping up. And they are really trying out new sounds and attempting to say words when we ask them to try to say_____.

So this list is really for me to remember where they were at being home just a little over a year speech wise. I am trying to make this list of just words that they say on their own. Not for example like door which if I ask them to say it they will say duh. I want to count words we know they truly "get."

mama

dadda

doh (dog)

muh (more)

ma (milk...Hunter has progressed to mih)

cah (car...I give them full credit on that one...they say it just like me w/ my NE accent!)

ehh (egg)

puh (please)

buh (bus)

noh noh (knock knock)

ni ni (night night)

buh by (bye bye)

mehmeh (melon)

wawa (water)

na na (bananna)

shhh ( as in finger to your lips quiet noise)

beah (bear)

muhmuh (muffin)

pop (the sound- as in the toaster goes pop)

bap (the beep sound)

bop (stop)

gouh (go but not a super strong o yet)

ba / ahba (apple they are working on adding that first ah to it but its not consistent yet)

bah (potty...they do the sign for potty at the same time, good thing or I'd be giving them an apple every time they wanted to use the potty!)

ba (up, this time w/ arms raised- those darn p's they'll get them eventually!)

muhn (moon)

bue (blue)

yeyeh (yellow)

I (well...its close to an I sound don't know how to write it)

my

tuh (turn....as in my turn!)

hep (help....if prompted Hunter will do a longer hehhhllll.....puh)

booh (book just missing that last sound!)

mop (straight out of 10 apples up on top....lookout the mop they chime in "mop")

jui (juice)

new (noodles)

ceh (can )

zip (not quite that crisp, but definitely still zip)

bohw (bowl)

bahl (ball)

dep (step...which they like to say as they are going down each step on their way down the stairs...too cute!)

dip dip (literally what it sounds like as in dip, dip, dip you are dipping your food....usually this involves ketchup....hmmmm wonder where they got that???? this is usually Zachary btw. He LOVES HIS KETCHUP)

moohe (move....usually said when one of the brothers is too close while other brother is trying to do his business on the potty ....they don't want the other to flush for them!)

roh (roll)

la (light)

uh eh (uh oh)

nuh (no)

yea (yes....ok give them full credit on this one too....VERY MUCH MY NE ACCENT AGAIN)

beh beh (baby)

une ( one)

deaux (two....do you see a trend here w/ these last couple of words??? They are cracking me up my little french guys!)

wah (wall)

dehr (door. I know I said they don't say this w/out prompting, but I just tested them by saying what is this? Is it a car? Is it a bus? and they shook their heads and told me "dehr")

moo - or meeehw, cow noise mom is too realistic for them to possibly say it right (that's what you get from growing up in a cow town)

arf arf (dog noise)

rubrub (supposed to be ribbit- f0r frog)

naaah ( what a goat says)

baah ( what a sheep says)

ahhgaya (alligator...Hunter just started saying this one day this week. Mr Z has not joined in yet)

di di (diaper)

shih (shirt. again this is a Hunter thing- lets just hope he master this before too long. I can just see him saying to mr. Z.....I don't want your shih!)

na (napkin)

na ( for knee- they say this as I sometimes diaper them on my knee and they get a choice: knee or floor. they tap my knee and say, na!)

teh (for teeth)

ahl (all....mainly Hunter on this one too, as in all done)

that's all I can think of at this moment. I'll ask Scott and I'm sure he'll come up w/ a ton I'm forgetting.

Oh, they also have some great sound effects too that they truly are doing as sounds not as words...like roar -complete w/ hand gestures...thanks Maggie :) and choo choo, and lots of siren noises!

and we do have some words that have come and gone. they've been lost w/ for now no reappearance in sight. our ST said that can be common as they have so much going on right now that they may still know the word, but just can't be bothered to access it right now.

some of those lost words: krkr (cracker) trsh (trash)

and they don't use all these words all the time. When I put it down in a list it feels like they are talking way more than they really are. But they are improving and becoming WAY more verbal than they have been. I remember when they were playing and they were pretty much quite except a few grunts to their brother. Now playtime is filled w/ noises and lots of babbling of syllables. Yeah!! And we love hearing those two word combos pop up unexpectedly. Like when Hunter said "Hi Dadda" on the phone .....you just have to love that!