Um, yeah. He's a talker.

It has been described as everything from "verbally gifted" (by the pediatrician) to "my, he's chatty" (by a fellow mom in Music Class). In any case, Owen is definitely a talker. Wonder where he gets that from? We have tried to keep track of his vocabulary so that we can record it for posterity, but that is easier said than done. He is adding new words all the time and after awhile, you just get used to it. It's as if he's known that new word all along. Please don't think I'm trying to tout my kid as some child savant...he's just really verbal.

In an effort to capture the moment, we spent the last few days trying to record all the words we KNOW he uses. We included only those that he has used on a regular basis and has used appropriately and in the correct context. The list tops 100 words. You can see it here. I've tried to include his pronunciation as well, but you can't quite get the full effect without hearing the words for yourself.

In addition to all those spoken words, he also knows and uses just over 50 signs. He often uses the sign in conjunction with the spoken word or sometimes just the sign or word separately. I truly believe that signing has facilitated his language development and can't say enough good things about what signing has contributed to our family! Thank you, Dr. Tuccelli, for introducing me to ASL in the first place, for describing its usefulness for hearing children, and for teaching with such enthusiasm. AND, a huge thank you to the Signing Time videos...I've said it before and I'll say it again. Go. Buy. These. Now!

Even though we are accustomed to his verbal marathon, he still catches us by surprise with the things he puts together. Several nights ago just before bathtime, Owen went in Rob's closet and sat down in front of a picture frame (sure, we store our photos and artwork in the closets! Don't you? Is it supposed to be on the walls??). We heard him talking and went in to find him identifying the different things in the photos. These were photos we had never discussed before...never described to him. He went through them a couple of times with Daddy before I thought to catch it on video. Here he is just before his patience ran out with us...


The list of words posted above doesn't even begin to touch on all the songs for which he knows the lyrics and fills in the blanks, all the instructions/requests he can respond to with ease and all the "miscellaneous" things like animal sounds and such. I tried to run through a few this morning at breakfast after he had already been imitating the squirrel sounds he learned from Grandpa Moore. Talking over breakfast...


He has also started combining words and phrases. For instance, in order to tell someone about the fireplace, he must always include 3 things: "Fwa-fwa. Hot, hot, hot. No, no." Translated, this means, "That's a fire. It's hot. We don't touch." My current favorites are "ho joo" and "wuh woo" (hold you and I love you). Oh, and I love that Owen now identifies his baby photos as "you." Surely the result of being told a million times "that's you."

Now, we just need to work on those rhyming words, as they do occasionally throw him for a loop. For instance, he will often sign "COAT" when playing with his "GOAT" magnet. And after a few days of me asking if he wanted a "BITE" of my sandwich, he will now make his request by signing "BIKE." As long as he can get those sorted out in the next few years, I think our boy is gonna do just fine.