Noelle's Words

We had another great speech therapy session today, and her therapist said she definitely noticed an increase in sounds and words from Noelle since her last session two weeks ago.  It makes me so happy to hear that the therapist is pleased with her progress!  Praise the Lord!

Today they did a puzzle with farm animals, read "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", and had a tea party.  The therapist uses a lot of repetition, and often has Noelle look at her mouth to model how a word or sound is made with her lips.

I thought it might be fun to record some of Noelle's current "words"- how she says them at least.  There's already been progress, and it will be fun to look back and see her development.

Noelle at 15 months

* mama- First time she said this without any prompting from us was when she was being dropped off at nursery and did not want to be there.  She often uses this one when she's upset.
* mommy- She will use this one and mama when she is pointing out that I'm mom, or pointing to a mom in a book we are reading.
* daddy- She will use this when pointing out Luke.  But she will call him mama if she's upset.  Pretty much anyone is mama when she's upset.
* hi and hello
* bye and bye-bye
* no and yeah

Noelle at 17 months- around when we first had her speech assessed

* foo- food
* I nee- I need (for anything she wants- and often she points to herself)
* buh- the b sound stands for a variety of words, and I have to use context clues to figure it out. It can be bug, ball, belt, bus, and probably others that I don't always pick up on.
* kuh- cracker or cookie
* mik- milk (which she used to use the ASL sign for)
* wah- water or wrap
* ple- please (still sometimes uses the ASL sign)
* duh- dog
* stick- for stick or sticker

Noelle almost 21 months

* up- although she's also started saying uppie
* dow- down
* nap- napkin
* moh- more (previously used ASL sign)
 * hep- help
* hah- hat
* neck- necklace
* see- same (this one took me a little while to figure out, but she kept pointing out things that matched)
* hop
* pah- pad
* uh-oh

Noelle at 2 years

As I'm writing this out, I'm realizing she has many more words, but hopefully this captures a bit where she's at currently.  I'm so proud of her, and she continues to amaze me with her development, both speech and cognitive.  It's such a blessing watching these little changes happen over time, and I'm so thankful I get to be home with her to see the day-to-day growth!