Sign Language (BRIEF) update

Hartly is now 14 months.  

Currently he can sign 49 words.


In no particular order (but casual attempt at doing most recent first):
- Turtle
- Children
- Slide
- Raisin
- Help
- Hug
- (when you ask him how old he is he responds by holding up 1 finger)
- Peas
- Banana
- Hairbrush
- Toothbrush
- Cheese
- Duck
- Mama
- Balloon
- Wind
- Please
- Bike
- Boat
- Bath
- Night-Night/bedtime/sleep
- Swing
- Car
- All done
- Music
- Eat/food
- Fan
- Light
- Dog
- More
- Milk
- Tree
- Water
- Apple
- Potty
- Dance
- Chandelier (rarely does this one anymore but used to do it all the time, still will occasionally)
- Book
- Hat
- Sunglasses
- Flower
- Wave/hi/bye
- Bird
- Ball
- Up
- Down
- Kiss
- Clap, clap, clap
- Fan


He also knows these body parts"
- Nose
- Eyes
- Mouth
- Tongue
- Teeth
- Ears
- Belly
- Hands
- Feet
- Hair


And my favorite:
when you ask him what a lion or tiger says, he says "ROAR"
For a cow he says, "muuuh"
For sheep he says, "Baaa"
For doggie he says, - well, he sticks out his tongue and pants :)
For monkey he says, "ooh"...


P.S.  Many people told us not to sign (or speak Spanish in addition to English) with Hartly.  They said it would slow down his speech.  My husband and I decided, we would rather gain months and months of communication via sign language and have Hartly be 'delayed' a few months with his speech.  We also decided we would much rather have him grow up bilingual although we have been 'warned that this too can 'delay' speech.


The AVERAGE amount of SPOKEN words (a bunch of sites I found on children and language) by a 14month old is 2-5.


Hartly's SPOKEN words at 14 months: 14
- Hi (actually, "Hiya")
- Bye
- Ball
- Bottle ("Ba-Ba")
- Papa
- Dada
- Mama
- Bath ("Baah")
- Cheese ("Chee")
- baby ("bee")
- Buddha ("Buh-Buh")
- Jinky, his Grandma's name is Jinky (Ji-Chee) (his first 2 different syllable word)

- Book ("ook")
- Agua


So much for delayed speech.  I'd say we are doing okay...


P.P.S.  Although we do think Hartly is pretty freakin' amazing, we do not think that he is in any way different in these areas than any other child his age.  He has just been given the opportunity to demonstrate what he knows.  Any child (most children), with the right tools, would be no different.  And there is nothing cooler than communicating with your baby!