Expressive Language

We've been using this phrase a lot in our house recently. Meryl has just been approved for services with Early Intervention because she is far enough behind in her verbal language. (Even though she. never. shuts. up.) So I started thinking about Finley's language. These are her words-

• mama
• momo (meryl)
• bye bye
• bobo (the monkey)
• boo boo
• strawberry
• bappy (happy)
• meow meow (her cat)
• papa (her paci)
• caca (cracker)
• poop
• birdy
• tweet
• doggy
• baby
• yum yum
• yuck

She also has a bunch of signs. Most don't matter but two do. One for her silkies, which are the rags she carries. She rubs her fingers together. Much like the sign for money. The other is for nursing. She'll either pound me on the chest or gently tap her own chest. These matter and get asked for often.

But back to Meryl. Meryl scored just fine in everything but her expressive language. She had a ball with the testing and loved the attention. Several times she had to remind the testers to applaud for her upon completing the requested task. I'm fully biased but she was quite the character. If she can actually talk I can't even imagine what type of a ham she'll be. Which is fun to think about in a family of shy kiddos.