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...of real communication

Both my children are making strides in their communication abilities recently.  Abram is getting a better and bigger vocabulary everyday.  His sentences are more coherent and we have less instances of just not knowing what he's talking about now.  He still has things that he says strangely.  Like he can't say his "L"s.  So Selah's name is still "Sey-ah".  Also "R"s are hard.  Or, should I say "hawd".  And he still can't say "sp" (comes out as an f sound) or "oi" (boy and toy sound like "bee-oh" and "tee-oh"...?...)  But overall he is fully comprehending almost everything we say to him and able to tell us what he wants and needs rather than throwing fits. He never was a big temper tantrum kid, but they do happen and it's nice to be able to use the "I'm sorry, I can't understand what you are saying when you talk like that" tactic and have him be able to respond by calmly saying whatever he had previously been whining or crying about.  He's two, though, so our expectations can't be too high.

Selah has understood the word "clap" for about a month now - clapping when we just say the word and not having to see someone doing it.  This made me think that she would pick up on sign language if we started trying it with her.  With Abram, I diligently did more, all done, and please from four months old.  Not surprisingly, it wasn't until about 10 or 11 months that he picked it up.  With Selah, I didn't bother with it early and just started it recently and she's already starting to get the hang of it.  Just yesterday she started using the "more" sign!  Pretty big news!  It's always awesome when your kids can start to let you know what they want, rather than you having to guess what they need or how much they want of something.  The thing that got her going was hummus (over here it's said more like "hummos") on bread.  She was a big fan and chowed down a whole slice of bread.  I got a few videos of her saying more.  This one she only really does it once, but it was the one with the least focus problems.
They are growing up so fast!  I can't believe it!  Selah is slowly but surely heading out of baby-dom and soon we will have a toddler and a full-on kid running around our house.  I'm trying to savor it instead of hurrying her through it.  Her 45 minute naps have made that savoring a little difficult, but I know for a fact that this too shall pass.  

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