Speaking

Alisa has been repeating some words we say. Today she said "cheese" a few times after Craig put it on her tray for lunch and said cheese (we always tell her what we are giving her so she can learn what everything is called). During dinner at the restaurant tonight, Alisa was looking at the mural on the wall and I asked if she saw the man and she said "man." Oh, she has such a cute little voice!

She is learning the word "wall" now. We never thought to teach her that one because we've been so busy with animals and things we use like chairs and dishes. Most mornings, I get her out of bed and let her play with the stuffed animals on the guest bed in her room. I have to tell her to watch her head and be careful so she doesn't bump it on the wall that curves at the head of the bead and becomes the ceiling (our house has a curved roof and her room is on the top floor so it's really curvy up there). I realized I hadn't ever told her about walls. So, I told her that was the wall. She said "wall" and now says it many times when she sees it each morning without prompting.

During the past week, she has been saying "mama" and pointing to me and then "dada" and pointing to Craig. It was neat to see her make the connection and practice so she could remember. I mean, she already knew we were called mama and dada but she hadn't actually called us that herself before. She always starts with mama and says both so if Craig is not in the room, she points towards the door. A couple of times she mixed them up and pointed to Craig for mama. The tone her voice when she says them is super sweet and different than previously when she'd casually say them when not looking at us.

I can't wait until she can string words together on her own and say funny and random things!