Walking & Talking

Avery is walking like a champ and talking like a toddler.  She'll now attempt to repeat what we ask her to, which is cool.  Sometimes, if she knows the sign, but can't yet say the word, she does the sign.  But if it's a word for which she doesn't know the sign, she gives it a whirl.  A lot of "words" sound the same, but she tries it out with different inflections. 

Today on the dog walk, I asked Avery to repeat various words that I've heard her say.  For reference purposes, here's a list of her current vocabulary:

• daddy
• mama
• baby
• ball
• bubble
• milk
• down
• up
• out
• no
• please
• more
• shoes
• bath
• book
• yak (you know, because we see so many yaks)
• hi
• bye
  

Those are all I can think of now.  She used to say Eddie, but she's stopped for whatever reason.  She has said many more words on a one-off basis (including a perfect, adult sounding "water"!), but these words listed above are solid.

When I ask her what sound a cow, lion, or cat makes, she will usually get the noise right.  Less consistently, she'll do a snort sound for hippo.  The lion cracks me up, "Rooooaaar!"


Her comprehension also astonishes me.  More specifically, the comprehension of most toddlers her age astonishes me.  I can tell her to take something to Daddy and she will.  I can tell her to take something to her room and she will.  I can even say if you do this, then you can do that, and she seems to truly understand. 

The other day, Avery and I visited the zoo with her friend Elise and her mom.  This picture was taken on that visit.  This is the hat she wears when we go on our dog walks.  I love it, as does Avery.  

I have other pictures to upload, but I seem to have exceeded the space limit on Picasa for pictures, so I've had to buy more space.  It takes up to 24 hours to make this change, so I'll just post this one for now.