Some Recent Peeperisms

Handing Shrike some pipe cleaners and pompoms: "Here go, Mommy. Here go. Enjoy."

Watching a YouTube video: "Dat's hiyarious!"

Climbing over Mr. Panda: "Suse me, Panda. Peeper comin' froo."

Pushing the blankie off her lap in the car: "Get yost!"

Holding TV remote up to her ear: Hello? Can't hear you. Diff'rent phone.

As I'm reading a text that just came in: What person, Mama?

Putting her Cookie Monster stethoscope on her chest (and the cat's): Echocardiogram!

Inspecting her poop during a diaper change: Yook yike . . . eagle!

Talk Talk Talk

It's a good thing that I let myself off the hook for writing down every damn word Peeper says, as of her birthday, because there's no way I'd be keeping up now.

I had "officially" recorded 180 spoken words, as of then, and five days later told the doctor that I thought she probably had "about 200" (including new ones since I stopped tracking them, plus assuming I'd missed a few).

It's been almost two weeks since then, and I wouldn't even venture a guess as to where she is now.

250?

Could it be 300???

(Oh wait, I guess I just did, huh? That could be soooo wrong though. I am a very bad estimater.)

I keep telling myself that I'm going to pick a day and not even attempt to write down what they are, but just try to keep a running tally of how many words she uses that she didn't have as of when I stopped writing them down.

Or maybe just an hour.

(I need one of those little hand-held clicky counter thingies.)

And, as predicted, within a week of telling the doctor that she was not using any two-word phrases, she started doing that.

Okay, maybe she isn't exactly "doing that" yet, but she "has done that," at least three times:

1. Mama wawa - Mama's water
2. (Something I can't remember. Shit. You see why I wrote these things down?)
3. Moaw (Peeper) - Give more to Peeper.

As you can hear in the video from yesterday, she often "goes on and on" with one single word after the other, or holds back-and-forth conversations, one word at a time, but those are separate thoughts. These are the only two-words-to-express-a-single-thought that we've heard so far, but I'm sure that she'll be using them more and more and will be stringing together whole sentences before long.

A Bit of Housekeeping: Now That We Are Two

As I just said, I'm no longer trying to record every single word that Peeper's saying, and I've archived the "Unabridged Peeptionary."

I've also realized that there's not been a lot of action on "Peeper's Progress" lately, so I've archived that, and when she has weight checks and new teeth and such, I'll just add them to the archive.

The other thing I'm changing a bit is that I will no longer be titleing my "Daily Peeps" as such. Don't worry, I'll still be posting photos of Peeper every day, but I've realized that, most days, that's the only post, and some days it's a big long rambling thing, plus photos, so it seems dumb to have damn near every post start with "Daily Peep: . . . ."

I will still tag the daily photo as a "Daily Peep" so you can find them all if you want by going to that category, but they'll just have regular-ass titles from now on.

Hmmm, I think that's it.

The Unabridged Peeptionary: Zero to Two

This is a (not quite) complete list of Peeper's words, "animal" sounds (which usually double as names for the "animals" in Peeplish) and signs, as of her second birthday, more or less in the order that she started using them.

Minus the ones that I've forgotten to record, of course. Lately, she's been adding them too quickly for me to really keep up.

I told myself a few weeks ago that I would record them until her birthday, and then stop even trying.

So, whew!

Signs

1. More
2. All done
3. Dog
4. Milk (nurse)
5. Hello
6. Bye-bye
7. Fan
8. Hooray (clap)
9. Flower
10. Gentle
11. Points
12. Stinky
13. Bird
14. Cold
15. Duck
16. Bubbles
17. Hat
18. Hair
19. Mouth
20. Bunny
21. Here's Peeper!
22. Snow
23. Frog
24. Baby
25. I don't know / Where?
26. Car
27. Ball
28. Blow Kisses
29. No
30. Swing
31. Book
32. Bath
33. Nose
34. Tummy
35. Eye
36. Brush Teeth
37. Cup
38. Brush hair
39. Shoes
40. Train
41. Phone
42. Sleepy
43. Cookie
44. Pee-pee
45. Cracker
46. Ear
47. Feet
48. Toes
49. Knock-knock
50. Alligator
51. Horse
52. Chicken
53. Spider
54. Cheerios
55. Raisin
56. Cheese
57. Donkey
58. Booty
59. Diaper
60. Legs
61. Please
62. Thank you
63. Hurt / Ouch
64. Outside
65. Cry
66. Outside
67. Down
68. Hush/Sleeping
69. Splash
70. Banana
71. Yuck
72. Peanut butter
73. Whale
74. Butterfly
75. Shoulder
76. Heart
77. Scar
78. Knee
79. Elbow
80. Tail
81. Fly/bug
82. Firefly
83. Turtle
84. Glasses
85. Yes
86. I love you
87. Hippo
88. Ladybug
89. Penguin
90. One
91. Two
92. Five
93. Ten
94. Giraffe
95. Fall down
96. Octopus
97. Seymour (“more”)
98. Star
99. Triangle
100. Robot/Buzz Lightyear
101. BabyK (baby-in-the-phone)
102. Bra / Breast / Tanktop
103. Underarm / Deoderant
104. Music / Dance
105. Pumpkin
106. Parachute\
107. Stretch / High
108. Big Bird (bird)
109. Cookie Monster (cookie)
110. Face / Makeup
111. Kermit (frog)

“Animal” Sounds (as names)

1. Monkey (oo oo)
2. Cat (yow yow)
3. Elephant (ahhhhh)
4. Lion (raar – with sign)
5. Tiger (raar – with sign)
6. Sheep (daaaah)
7. Bear (rrrr – with sign)
8. Wolf (ah-ooo)
9. Owl (ah-oo ah-oo)
10. Duck (waaaahk)
11. Seal (ar)
12. Pirate (arrrr)
13. Pig (gug)
14. Big Foot (ow)
15. Squirrel (tt-tt-tt)
16. Rooster (eh eh eeeeh)
17. Witch (cackle)
18. Ghost (oooo)
19. Turkey (buhbuhble)
20. Santa (huhhuh)
21. Skeleton (rauhrauh)
22. Zombie (bwaaay)
23. Dog (woo-woo)
24. Cow (mooo)

Words

1. Mama (Mama)
2. Mommy (Mommy/ Meme)
3. Baby (Baay-beee)
4. Apple (hah-puh)
5. Hot (ha-ha)
6. Up (uppa!)
7. Toesies (dahdee)
8. Papa (Papa)
9. Grandma/Grandpa (papa-papa) – old person)
10. Panda (daah-duh)
11. Ice Cream (chaaa-khkh)
12. Target (taaa-khkh)
13. Tickle (tika-tika-tika)
14. Dead (ded)
15. Ice (eye-ta)
16. Elmo (ah-ma)
17. Popcorn (bop!)
18. Hi (hi! w/wave)
19. Bye-bye (da-dah w/wave)
20. Two (tah – with sign)
21. Ashley (eye-tah)
22. Dog (dada)
23. Ernie (uh-na)
24. Blood (bleeeh)
25. Sarah (seh-tuh – cousin)
26. Lobster (lala)
27. Cake (keh-kah)
28. Onion (nn-yuh)
29. Football (foo-buh)
30. Moon (muh-muh)
31. Peanut butter (puh-buh)
32. Bo-Bo Bear (bo-bo)
33. Ladybug (lala)
34. Pepper (pehpuh)
35. Blue (bwoooo)
36. Six (siss)
37. Cow (caaah)
38. Bravo (bahbo)
39. Pumpkin (puhpah)
40. Yummy (mmm mmm)
41. Hop (hop hop!!)
42. Bee (deeee)
43. Helicopter (hoppuh)
44. Purple (puhpuh)
45. Yellow (yehyoh)
46. Burt (dit)
47. Josie (guh-guh – mouth closed, in throat)
48. Julie (guh-guh – mouth closed, in throat)
49. Hexagon (hepuh)
50. Thank you (fayfew)Beep (beep)
51. Dirt (dit)
52. Bubbles (buhbuh)
53. Thumper (fthumpuh)
54. Ellie (eye-ee)
55. Green (geee)
56. Chessi (sheh-tah)
57. Humpty Dumpty (dit-tee dit-tee)
58. Pink (pik)
59. Hexagon (hepuh)
60. Thank you (fayfew)
61. Boop (w/nose-touch)
62. Chessi (shet-ah)
63. Rufus (wuhwuh)
64. Boat (bit)
65. Hat (hap)
66. Help (hep)
67. Stop (sop)
68. Step (swep)
69. Texas (teh-tuh)
70. Happy Birthday (hahday)
71. Eight (ayt)
72. Nine (niiiun)
73. Ten (teh)
74. Dip (bip)
75. Silly (sih-ee
76. Seriously (sis-see)
77. Happy (hah-pee)
78. Poop (poop)
79. Bottle (bobble)
80. Paper (paypuh)
81. Orange (oh
82. Cracker (pah-puh)
83. Coffee (dahdee?)
84. Empty (ippy)
85. Dark (daht)
86. Pillow (pehpah)
87. Halloween (hahdadee)
88. Goldie (doduh)
89. Charlie (shahteh)
90. Night Night (nah nah)
91. Water (wawa)
92. Hole (hoew)
93. No (naah)
94. Elbow (behbow)
95. Pee-pee (peepee)
96. Oscar (dotduhm)
97. Abby Cadaby (Babby Bababby)
98. Bowl (bow)
99. Wet (fwet)
100. Teddy (dehdee)
101. Daphne (dadee)
102. Cup (bup)
103. AuntieKay (eye-tah)
104. Uh-oh (uh uh)
105. Sleepy (sweepeh)
106. Lid (lih)
107. Potty (pobby)
108. ABC (ay ee ee)
109. Man (myauw mayauw)
110. Lady (lala)
111. Ball (bahw)
112. Tail (tuhl)
113. Sunshine (shuweh)
114. Sit (shit)
115. Pump (pup pup)
116. Rock (wock)
117. Brown (bow)
118. White (what)
119. Watermelon (wauhmeyom)
120. Eat (ate)
121. See ya (seesah)
122. Sweep (fweep)
123. Yippee (hyipee)
124. Boppy (bop)
125. Drop (bop)
126. Buddy (bobby)
127. Hello / Hi ya (hi ya)
128. Sock (fwok)
129. More (moaw)
130. Please (peez)
131. Again
132. Hair (hayow)
133. Slide (swy)
134. Fur (fuew)
135. Love o'Pete (Pete)
136. Crap (bap)
137. Mailman (myauw myauw)
138. Snowman (myauw myauw)
139. Merrily Merrily (mehwly...)
140. Eena (eena)
141. Cow (caaaow)
142. Santa Claus (hum-hummuh)
143. Trick or Treat (titah)
144. Lips (lihps)
145. Red (reeeeh)
146. Skeets (seet)
147. Arm (ahum)
148. Leg (leh)
149. Back (bap)
150. Booty (di-dee)
151. Ear (eah)
152. Eye (eye)
153. Nose (mow)
154. Octopus (oppuh)
155. Hand (hahn)
156. Wow (wow)
157. Boo (boo)
158. Hanger (huhmuh)
159. Sad (fwahd)
160. Book (buhp)

Overheard: Dairy Edition

While driving past a farm, as the cows all headed in from the field:
Whozat: Oh, look at all the cows, going in to be milked.
Peeper: Pump! Pump!

At breakfast, over "wet" cereal:
Peeper: Wawa?
Whozat: That's milk on there.
Peeper: Pump! Pump!

While playing with her farm:
Peeper: Caaaow? (signs) Where?
Whozat: Here's your cow. Is it time for her to get milked?
Peeper: Lifts shirt and nurses the cow. Then brings it to me to nurse.

Self Identifying

One of Peeper's most exciting new words is her own name.

She started saying it a couple of weeks ago, if I asked, "What's your name," but didn't use it much spontaneously until last week.

Now, she identifies herself in both photographs and in the mirror. Here and at my mom's house, there are mirrors opposite the bed, so she's gotten very into standing on the bed and looking at herself, pointing to her chest with both forefingers and saying, well, a very new-talker version of her first name.

I think she's said it a few times to mean "Give XYZ to Peeper" and this evening, when we were running around town looking for ladybug party decor, every time I took her out of the car, as I picked her up from the carseat, she pointed to herself and said her name.

Not only does it make her sound like such a Big Girl, it's also about the cutest damn thing you ever did see.

Verbal

She may still be using them only one at a time, and Shrike and I may be the only ones who can understand the vast majority of them, but I just tallied up (what I can remember of) the new words that Peeper started using during our trip and it seems that on my "official" list, she now has more spoken words than signs.

Twenty-Three Months

Dear Peeper:
You are twenty-three months old today, which means that you are now just a month away from being - Oh. My. God. - two years old!

Confession: I'm actually writing most of this post a few days early, and will double check it for accuracy then post it on the 27th, because we'll be on our way to the airport bright and early that morning, for our trip to Texas. I half-assed your last monthly letter because we were on our way to the beach, and I don't want to do that again, especially since this has been such a huge month for you.

Why so huge?

Well, it seems that you've hit that "language explosion" that everyone's been telling us to expect. It started at the beginning of this month, during our trip to the beach, and you've only sped up since then.

I've been updating my "official" list of your words and signs, and saw that in less than a month, you've about tripled your non-animal-sound spoken vocabulary!

And at this point, I'm having trouble keeping up with the new words, so I'm sure there are some that you're using that aren't even on the list.

I thought about including that list in this post, but I think I'll wait until next month, and post the full list of everything you're signing and saying at your birthday.

OMG. Next month is your birthday! Your second birthday!

I say that as though I'm surprised by it, but I've been working on plans for your party for at least a few weeks. Mostly "working" in my head so far, but now we've got a date set (Sunday 10/24 - we had to wait to see Mommy's work schedule before we could make it official) and I'm pricing bakeries (Our friend who made your first birthday cake has moved to Germany. How dare she?!) and debating whether to try making your cake - or, more likely, cupcakes or something similar - myself.

But, enough about next month, back to what you've been doing over the past month . . . .

In addition to all the new words you've learned, you're also starting to get your head wrapped around numbers.

You love to "count" objects, by pointing to them one by one, and saying, "Taa-ah, taa-ah . . . " and you're learning the actual numbers, too.

You definitely know what "two" means, you seem to recognize the numeral 1 and if I count slowly enough, you can (sometimes) fill in five, six, eight, nine and ten.

I know, it surpised the hell out of me, too.

You're getting better and better with your puzzles, even the harder ones, with really funky shapes (animals and such) and even some with no pictures under the pieces.

And you're all over the colors. You point to things and tell me that they are "bwooo" or "yehyoh" or "puhpoh" and are usually right. If I ask, you can sometimes tell me "geen" and "pik," too. (Although I think "bwoo" is your go-to answer when you're not sure.) When I ask you to "show me the (pick-a-color) one," you get that right more often than not, too.

Last week, as we were leaving the Fall Farm Fun Fest, you got all excited and started saying "Bwoo! Bwoo! Bwoo!" It took us a minute to realize that you were point right at a bright blue truck. (Cobalt. Shiny. Preeetty. Oh, sorry . . . .) A few minutes later, you pointed at your denim overalls and told me that they were "Bwoo!" too.

A while back, you evidently injured the nail on one of your big toes.

(We don't know how. We noticed it shortly after we got back from the beach. You'd not been away from us in over a week, and neither of us could remember anything happening that seemed like it should've done that kind of damage. It's been ages since you dropped that rock on your foot, and I think that might have been the other foot anyway, so it couldn't have been that. It's a mystery. But, I digress. . . . )

You have a bruise at the base of the toenail (I am so worried you're going to lose the nail, mostly because that would just be gross!) and you frequently point to it and tell me that it's "Puhpoh! Puhpoh!"

You spend a lot of time pointing out various injuries (real and imagined) on your poor little legs and feet. You've barely touched your shoes all summer, and you spend a lot of time outside, stepping on sticks and climbing on concrete and just being a kid, so you're all scratched and bruised and just generally well broken-in.

Everytime you notice one of these scratches or bruises, you say "Mama!" or "Mommy!" and point to it, signing "hurt" and expecting a kiss. You're pretty good at accepting blown kisses when necessary (and sometimes blown-and-bounced-off-two-mirrors kisses when we're in the car) and you often "self medicate" by kissing your own boo-boos.

You're also very sweet about kissing other people's boo-boos, and asking if they hurt.

The other day, I was walking around the backyard with you, in my barefeet, and told you that I didn't want to be in a certain area because it hurt my feet. (Under the trees, with sticks and pinecones and such.) After I got back on to the grass and put you down, I thought you were trying to pick something up, so I kept moving out of your way - until I realized that you were trying to kiss my feet!

When we went to the beach, Mommy did, well, to put it bluntly, a rather crappy job of sunscreening herself and got a rather nasty sunburn on her back. For several days, I put aloe vera on it for her, while you signed "hurt" and gave her kisses.

Even now, when you see the bottle of aloe vera, you point to it, and say "Mommy" and sign, "hurt." That's right. That's the stuff that Mommy put on her back when it was hurt. Little smarty-diaper girl!

Speaking of diapers, we may have taken the first couple of steps down the road to potty training. We've had the potty in the bathroom for ages, and you love to play with it, and you like to sit (with clothes on) and read, but we've not really been actively doing anything about it.

Lately, though, you've started occassionally telling us when you've pooped, or even once or twice, when you were about to poop.

We've also been lucky enough to catch a couple of poops (well, one and then the second half of another one) and pees (um, the second half of one) in the potty during nakey time, and have made a really big deal out of that. (Mommy made up a song and everything.)

So, for the past week or so, I've been trying to give you some nakey time and keep an eye on you, and give you a chance to sit on the potty and try everytime I change your diaper, and talk talk talk about pottying all the time.

You're digging Elmo's "Potty Time" video  . . . you'll do that poo-poo that you do so well . . . (Or, maybe, Mama's digging it.) and you just might get a book (probably also starring Elmo) about pottying for your birthday.

We're not in any rush, and we're certainly not looking at any kind of charts and stickers and such at this point, but we are thinking it might be time to start gently encouraging you in that direction.

As I said, we're leaving for Texas "today" and as quickly as you're picking up new words and skills, I can't even imagine how much more you'll be doing when we get home, just a week from now - let alone where you'll be next month, on your birthday.

And I can't wait to find out.

I love you my little talk-ball!


Love,
Mama

Numbers and Letters and Words (and Puzzles), Oh My!

For the past couple of weeks (starting during our beach trip, actually), Peeper's suddenly been doing a lot more talking.

She's not added a ton of new words to her working vocabulary (although I'm sure there are some that I've forgotten to document in the sidebar), but she's doing a whole lot more echoing of things that we say.

Many of the things that she's echoed back to us have been funny to hear from her, because they are kind of random things that you wouldn't expect a not-quite-two-year-old to say.

I was thinking that, "Well, that's really cute to hear this one time, but kind of useless. I mean, when the hell is 'Buf-Puf' going to come up in conversation for her?"

(For example - there are better examples that don't come to mind at the moment. I must ask Shrike when she gets home.)

And then I realized - that's exactly why she said it.

She's not suddenly starting to say the words that she's been hearing and understanding and, often, signing, for ages.

She's repeating the novel words that she hears.
If Shrike and I are talking to each other, and one of us says "Blah blah blah aardvark, blah blah," she'll pipe up with "ah-vah!"

(Note: She has never actually said "aardvark," but that's probably what it would sound like if she did.)
So I'll say to Shrike, "Did she just say aardvark?" and Shrike will say, "I think she did!" and I'll say to Peeper, "Aardvark!" and she'll repeat "ah-vah!" and we'll go back and forth with that a few times until she loses interest.
 
It's as if she's saying, "Aardvark? Hmmm, that's new. I wonder what it means?"
 
(Or, perhaps, "Aardvark!? What the fuck, Mama?")
 
For some of the nouns that she's done with with (lobster, football), some repeated exposure and practice has moved them into her working vocabulary, which is pretty exciting to see.
 
She's also doing some very rudimentary pre-counting and number awareness. She definitely knows what "two" means, because she often picks up two of something and announces "Tah!" while holding up (well, trying to hold up) two fingers on each hand.
 
(I don't have the heart to tell her that's actually four. But she doesn't get the middle fingers very far up, so I guess it technically is two.)

I've been working on "three" with her, thanks to Mermama and her three merbabies. I can't really tell if she's getting it though, because she also seems to pronounce all numbers "tah."

(Oh, with the occassional "ssss" right after I say "five." Whoa.)

She's never spontaneously claimed any other amount of items to be "tah" but if you ask her "How many?" the answer is always "tah" and she "counts" things (pointing to them, one by one, often exactly one time each - that is a tough concept for lots of kids to get) "Taa-ah . . . taa-ah . . . taa-ah" in that same exaggerated sing-song voice that I use when counting things out slowly.

(Oh, you know you do it, too, "Wuh-uhn, Too-ooo, Thuh-reeee . . . . ")

I'm also pretty sure that she recognizes the number "1" because I've seen her sign "one" when she sees a "1" - or an uppercase "I" without the little horizontal lines, or an upside-down "L."

She's recognizing some letters, but may not quite as well as I was thinking for a while there, until I started asking her about other letters that she doesn't know.

She can "find the E" on request, will show you a "P" (or occassionally "q" or "d") and say "Papa," or point to an "S" and say "ssssss," but calls all letters (and numerals, for that matter) "Eeeee" and for any given letter if you ask "What starts with this?" the answer is "Papa" and "what does this say?" the answer is "sssss."

She's very interested in letters, and loves her "letter books" and fridge magnets, which is really plenty at this age, I think. That other stuff is just bonus for now.

Also on the beach trip, she started singing! Well, trying to sing.

On the drive down, we were listening to one of her Kindermusik CDs and singing along to "Skinamarinky Dinky Dink (skinamarinky doo, I love you. . . ) and suddenly realized that she was saying / singing, "deeky deeky deeky deek" sort of to a melodyish kind of thing.

She really likes that one and will always "sing along" when we sing it, and I think she's trying to sing the ABC song "ee ee ee-ee" and has also tried a few others from Sesame Street videos (Oh dear, that's another thing. Kind of obsessed with Elmo. Even in two-minute tidbits on SesameStreet.com!) mostly those with "La-la-la" kind of lyrics.

I was really looking forward to this music class that was supposed to start tomorrow, but we found out that it's not happening, because they didn't have enough kids sign up. Bummer.

The instructor said there's going to be a Christmas music class in December, which I assume will just be a few weeks long. I think we're going to try to take that one.
She's also really getting into puzzles. We had just a couple of really simple ones out, but she found the stash last night, and was actually doing much better with them than I expected. Some are rather tricky, with no pictures at all under the pieces, and she's still able to find where a few of them go.

She does get frustrated pretty quickly and say "Mama!" asking me to put them in for her. I try to just encourage her, and then, if she's getting too frustrated, I'll put it aaaalmost in the hole, for her to finish.

As challenging as some of the puzzles are for her, it's almost as challenging for me to let her dump out all the pieces of all the puzzles and get them all mixed up, and then leave them just lying around instead of putting them all back in the puzzle.

I managed to chill out on it a bit when I realized that putting the pieces in (and out of) the holes is just a tiny bit of what she wants to do with them. She also wants to hold them up and ask me what they are, and vroom vroom the ambulance across her tummy, and give all the zoo animals goody (and have me give all the zoo animals goody) and just play with them.

Sigh. Okay, I think I can handle that.

But you better believe I "solved" them all after she went to bed, and made damn sure no pieces were missing!

She's a Poet, and I Didn't Know It

Earlier today, Peeper was cruising around my desk, and I heard a bit of a "bump" and when I looked at her, she seemed a little distressed.

I asked, "Was that your head? Did you bonk your noggy?" (Um, you know, short for "noggin.")

She looked at me and signed "doggy."

I'm guessing she probably just misheard me.

But I'd prefer to thing that she made a rhyme.

Because that would be much more impressive.

Also, speaking of the sign for "doggy," she is most definitely using it to refer to both the dogs and cats, but then she seems to follow (with help) them all around, saying something that sounds a whole lot like "kitty."

So, at least she's an equal-opportunity over-generalizer.

Communications 101 ArchiveThe Unabridged Peeptionary

Peeper Can Say...

By 10 months: Mama/Mommy (mama / mumum)

By 13 months: Yum Yum? (mumumum)

By 16 months: Baby (baah-buh), Doggy (duhgeeduhgee), (Monkey says) Oo-oo, (Doggy says) ah-ah, Eye (aahh - while pointing at eyes), Night-Night (ni-ni), (Kitty says) Meow (ee-yahw), Apple (hhhaa-puh)

By 17 months: Hot (hh-hh), Here (heh), (Elephant says) Ahhhh, (Lion/Tiger says) Roar (ruuh), Up (uppa!), Toes (tissss)

By 18 months: (Sheep says) Baa, Papa (Shrike's dad - papa), Bird? (bah), Water? (wadoo), Panda? (paah-puh), Eena (Shrike's mom - iiii), Grandma (Anonymama - mamaw), Grandpa (Anonydaddy - gapop), (Or, "Grandma and Grandpa" is "mamawmapop"), There she is (dershis - in response to "Where's Mama?"), Kitty (key or yetty), Cat (kaht), (Bear says) Grrr (ghhh), Yuk (yechyech), Knock-knock (na na), Goody?

By 19 months: (Duck says) Quack Quack (wac wac), (Seal says) Ark Ark (ar ar), (Pirate says) Arrrr (ar - much like the seal), (Cow says) Moo? (ok, what she really says is "caaaahhow"), Ball?, Hi, Ice Cream (hhh-khkh - very gutteral, not spellable)

By 20 months: Target (Tsch - yes, the store), Dog (da), Panda (daaah-duh), Tickle (tika-tika-tika), Grandma-Grandpa/Pappy (pahpuhpahpuh - anyone with gray hair!), Mommy (mee-mee - Shrike), (Wolf says) Howl (Ah-oo, ah-oo), (Owl says) (well, also ah-oo, because there's a book with the wolf and owl back-to-back, and she's confused), Dead (did)

By 21 months: Ice (eye-ta), Elmo (eh-mo - Refers to all Sesame Street characters, or anything red or with big bulging eyes), Popcorn (Bop!), Ow (ah-oo), (Santa says) Ho, ho, ho, (oh oh oh), Egg (heh-guh), Schnauzer (shna-za), Tent (tituh), Kite (khka)

By 22 months: Bye-Bye (dah-dah), Two (tah), (Frappa's real name - she goes nuts when she sees her profile pic on Facebook!), (Pig says) Grunt (it's an actual grunt), Duck (daahk), Toesies (or Tootsies? Something to do with her feet) (Tuh-tah), Blood (bleeh!), Yellow (yehyoh), Pump (pup)

By 23 months: Shrike's niece's first name, Lobster (lala), Cake (keh-kah), Ernie (uh-neh), Onion (nn-yuh), Football (foo-buh), Moon (muh-muh), Peanutbutter (puhbuh), Bo-Bo Bear (bo-bo). Ladybug (lala), (Bell)Pepper (pehpuh), Blue (bwoo - points to blue things and says it), Six (siss - seems to know that it comes after five), Bravo (bahbo), Pumpkin (puhpah), Hop (hop!), Bee (deeee), Helicopter (hoppuh), Purple (puhpuh), Burt (Dit), Boom (boo!), Humpty Dumpty (dit-tee dit-tee), Green (geee), Pink (pik), Hexagon (hepuh), Thank you (fayfew), Beep (beep), Boop (boop - touch nose, then say Frappa! because she taught it to her), Dirt (dit), Bubbles (buhbuh), Thumper (fthuphuh - the bunny in Bambi), Perfect Pup's name, Her Own First Name - when asked "What's your name?" BigGaloot's name, Boat (bit), Hat (haht), (Rooster says) cockadoodledoo (eh eh eeh-ehh), Help (hep - when she needs help, or hears a siren), Stop (sop - "reads" it printed on the parking lot), (Witch says) Cackle (laughs), (Ghost says) Wooo (ooo), Step (swep), Texas (teh-tuh), Happy Birthday (hahduh), Dip (bip), Towel (tohw), Eight (ah), Nine (nin), Ten (teh), Silly (sih-ee), Seriously (sis-see)

By 24 months: Happy (hoppy), Poop (poop), Bottle (bohbul), Orange (oh), Cracker (pah-puh), Paper (pehpuh), Coffee, Empty (ippy), Pillow, Halloween (hahdee), The Anonygrandparents' cats names, Night-night (nah nah), Water (wawa), Hole (hoew), Dark (dit), No (naah), Elbow (behbow), Pee-pee (peepee) Oscar the Grouch (dot-duhm with "stinky" sign), Abby Cadabby (Babby), Bowl (bow), Wet (fwet), DaNiece and Daphew's names, Cup (bup), Hat (hap), Uh-oh (uh-uh), Sleepy (sweepeh), Lid (lih), (Turkey says) Gobble gobble (bob-bob-bobuh), (Skeleton says) Rattle rattle (rauhrauh), (Zombie says) Braaaaiiins (bwaaay), Potty (pobby), ABC (ay ee ee), Man (myan myan), Lady (lala), Ball (bahw), Tail (tuhl), Sunshine (shuweh), Sit (shit - but I swear she means "sit!"), Pump (pup pup), Rock (wock), Brown (bow), White (woaw), Watermelon (wauhmeyom), Eat (ate), See Ya (seesah), Sweep (fweep), Yippee (hyiPEE), Boppy (bop), Drop (bop), Buddy (bobby), Hello? (Hi ya - or maybe she means "Hi Ya!"), Sock (fwok), More (moaw), Please (peez), Slide (lide), Again, Hair (hayow), Slide (swy), Again, Fur (fuew), Love o'Pete (Pete!), Crap (Bap!), Mailman (myauw myauw), Snowman (myauw myauw), Merrily Merrily... (mehwly mehwly), Eena (eena - Shrike's mom), Cow (caaooow), (Cow says) Moo (mooo), Santa Clauas (hum-humma), (Santa says) Ho Ho Ho (huh huh huh), Trick or Treat (titah), Lips (lihps), Arm (ahum), Leg (leh), Back (bap), Booty (di-dee), Ear (eah), Eye (eye), Nose (mow), Octopus (oppuh), Hanger (huhmuh)



Peeper Can Sign...

By 10 months: More

By 11 months: All done, Doggy

By 12 months: Goody (milk)

By 13 months: Hello/ByeBye (wave), Fan, Hooray (clap), Flower, Gentle, Points

By 14 months: Help, Stinky, Bird, Cold, Duck, Bubbles, Hat, Hair, Mouth, Bunny, "Here's Peeper!" (hands up)

By 15 months: Snow, Frog, Baby, "I Don't Know" / "Where Is It?" (big shrug), Car, Ball, Blow Kisses, No, Swing, Book, Bath, Nose, Tummy, Eye, Brush Teeth

By 16 months: Cup, Brush hair, Shoes, Tiger, Elephant, Train, Apple (complete with chomping sound!), Phone, Sleepy, Cookie (Animal cracker)

By 17 months: Pee-pee, (Graham) Cracker, Ear, Feet, Toes, Bear, Knock-Knock (on her head!), Alligator, Horse

By 18 months: Chicken, Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Cheerios, Raisin, Cheese, Donkey, Booty, Diaper, Legs, Please, Thank you, Hurt

By 19 months: Cry, Play, Outside, Hush, Splash (signs it like "wash" but definitely means "splash"), Banana, Yuck, Peanut(butter), Donkey, Whale, Butterfly

By 20 months: Butterfly / other flying insect, Binky (BabyJ's), Shoulder, Heart, Scar, Knee, Elbow, Tail (dogs/cats), Fly (bug), Firefly, Turtle, (Sun)Glasses, Yes

By 21 months: (I) Love (you), Hippo / Tooth Check Time!, Ladybug, Penguin, One, Two, Five

By 22 months: Giraffe, Fall Down / Upside Down, Octopus, Parachute (shoes), Stretch, Pumpkin (cookie)

By 23 months: Seymour ("more"), Triangle, Big Bird ("bird"), Cookie Monster ("cookie"), Face / Makeup (same sign), Ankle, Jacket

By 24 months: Kermit the Frog ("frog")