Our Ninong RDT (our wedding Godparent) mentioned in one of his e-mails that he was able to list down the words his apo, JC, was learning and saying as he was growing up. He said that he was not able to do it with his son then, being busy with full-time work, so he did it with his apo. He encouraged us to do that with Sam, not sure if we have already done it before with Liam. He said that it just felt good to see the progress of his apo, when it came to language. (RDT is one of the best English teachers in Ateneo Grade School ;))
Not having any excuse not to do it, I decided to give it a go.
Of course, Sam's first words were: "pa-pa and ma-ma". Actually, it was "pa-pa", followed by 'ma-ma." But by that time she was saying those words, I knew she still didn't associate the word with the meaning and the person. Now at 10 months, she can.
She can already call the parent she prefers. When she is cranky and needs nursing, or needs comfort, she calls me. When her Papa gets home from work, or the phone rings or my mobile rings, she calls her Papa. (Alvin uses the video-call feature of the mobile to talk with his kids before he goes inside the office building. He did it before with Liam and he continues to do it. I guess it is working ;))
Now after these two words, what's next?
apol --> apple...alvin was holding an apple, named the object, repeated it and she repeated it! Although I don't know if she can associate the word with the actual thing.
tess --> taste. This time, I'm pretty sure she knows the meaning. When we eat something and she calls our attention, we ask her, "Taste?", then she nods her head. Or when she's holding a piece of bikkie, we tell her, "taste?", and she stretches out her arms to you so you can taste the food she's holding. She is pretty consistent with this.
umba --> for Kuya. I don't know where she picked up umba, but that is what she calls her Kuya.
Some action words that she knows the meaning already but haven't pronounced it yet:
a. kiss, you can ask her to kiss you and she will
b. clap, when you tell her to clap her hands when you sing, she will
c. dance, she is a dancer, she starts wiggling her body when she hears any song with an upbeat tempo
d. no, need I say more? she cries (fake cry) when we tell her this magic word.
e. Open - Shut, for her hands
f. align, for her index finger
These are just the few things I have observed and yes, I must agree with my Ninong RDT that it does give you a certain thrill too see your kid's vocabulary increasing. I am in no hurry, after all, she is only 10 months old. But with the looks and sounds of it, we will have another chatterbox at home.
