communication.

(this is what is looks like when the baby cuss words come out. in this instance, she had been told that she was finished eating cookies for the night. what can i say? the girl loves sweets. i don't know where she gets it.)

 

ellie has always been pretty quiet and, until recently, she never really happily yelled or babbled a whole lot like some babies do. now she sings and jibber-jabbers and cusses me out and laughs when everyone else is laughing. the past couple of weeks, ellie has really started communicating with us. she could always say "more" in her made-up sign language, but now she shakes her head yes and no and has added another ellie sign*, "please." she has also started saying a few regular words, too, which is really fun.

her favorite lately is "yeah, yeah!" she usually sort of whispers it. i'll ask her if she wants something or likes something and she'll nod her head and whisper, "yeah! yeah!"

for example:

mommy: "ellie, do you want to watch a show?"
ellie: (points at tv) "yeah!"

mommy: "ellie, would you like a cookie?"
ellie: (nodding vigorously) "yeah! yeah!"

(ellie throws her bowl on the floor.)
mommy: "are you all done?"
ellie: (puts her hands up) "yeah. yeah. ah dah."

and my personal favorite, when she is tired or upset: 
mommy: "ellie, do you want to go to bed?"
ellie: (almost falling over) "yeahahahahahaha."

the other way she does it is this: when daddy brought her to find me in church, she walked up to me and said "yeah! yeah!" - letting us know she approved the decision.

she also says "yum" a lot. she says it while she eats, obviously, but she'll say it when she sees other people eating and she wants to eat, too. she'll say it if she sees something yummy. she also enjoys trying to feed me and give me drinks while saying "yum, yum." she tries to feed daddy, her friends and the dog. yeah, she doesn't have an issue with sharing. 

my favorite little word that she has just started saying is "whoa." when she opened easter eggs, when she gets a yummy treat, when she picks up something that she isn't supposed to have but is really cool it is "whooooaaaaaa."

funny enough, she rarely shakes her head no. sometimes she'll do it if she's mad or if i take something away, and then she'll make her little baby swear words at me (and they sound so vile, haha) and she'll fall over dramatically. the one time she always shakes her head no is when i ask if she is cold when she isn't wearing anything but a diaper. the answer is always a very serious head shake "no!" even if her little lips are starting to look purple.

i guess my mission now is to try and get some of these things on camera, right? because talking about ellie is fun, but it can't replace the actual experience.




*(in case you were wondering, "more" in sign language is touching the fingertips of both hands together. ellie points one finger horizontally to her open palm. for "please," you rub your chest with your open hand. she rubs her hands together, like she's washing them. but i know what she means, so i guess that's what matters, right?)