Lost in Translation

(Elise posing with her 'Monkey Man')

Elise is slowing starting to say more and more words- although it may be hard for anyone other myself and Jeff to understand. She's trying really hard to say new things but most of the time the word starts and stops with the first letter. For instance, Elise loves turning on our ceiling fans each morning but when she points and says the word 'fan', it comes out as 'fffff...' .

However, the following words are definitely understandable. Mind you, 'button' and 'more' were just added to the list yesterday! Also, nowhere on the list are there easy, short words like 'dog' or 'cat'. She likes some interesting multi-syllabic words! So, the next time Elise talks to you, here are some translations!
(I'm not sure how some of Elise's words are spelled but I did my best!)

Word..........................Elise Word
Button................................ 'Bunnon'
Monkey Man.................... 'Nan Ya' - her lovey blanket
Mom.................................. 'Mum'
Dad.................................... 'Dod'
Water................................ 'Wah'
Applesauce....................... 'Ah-ple-ahh'
An Ant..................... 'A Non' - as in 'Look! A Non!'
Puffer Fish................'Puff' - a rubber fish toy
More................................. 'Moe'



I am sure that Elise knows more words. When she first debuts a new word to her vocabulary, she barely says it out loud. It's as though she's afraid it will sound wrong so she decides to just whisper it!

Today a speech therapist attended our playgroup... she visits once a month to follow all of our children since we belong to Help Me Grow. According to her, by the age of 17-18 months, a child should have 10-20 words in their vocabulary. By 20 months, they should have 20 words. Remember, even though Elise is almost 18 months by age, we still need to adjust the 5.5 weeks back for prematurity - up until age 2. So, essentially we have that much time as a grace period.



Ant wrangling. Note: No ants were harmed during the making of this film.



This is the second time that Elise used the word 'button'. Please excuse my filming- I'm holding her with one arm and the camera in my other. Yes, I am the bionic woman- you should see my biceps. Also, this was right before breakfast and Elise was hungry... you'll see what I mean!