Vocabulary

Everybody has to start somewhere. This is the vocabulary Avery has picked up so far:

• Uh-oh
• Bye-bye
• Yeah
• Hi

She also does well communicating with her gestures and expressions (she has many more than just these):

• Shakes her head or pouts when she's done eating
• Shoves something away that I offer if she doesn't want it
• Points to the things she wants
• Does all sorts of eager sounds/grunts when I offer something she wants (she knows what bread and cracker mean without even showing her)
• Lays her head on me when she's tired or just zones out
• Waves when someone is getting ready to head out and waves when she goes to bed

I have a funny story:

So, whenever Avery does something out of frustration (like shove all the food off her tray), I get very stern, point my finger, look her in the eye and say "NO." (Kind of like "bad dog!") So she gets the picture quickly and most of the time she gets really sensitive, sticks out her lower lip involuntarily, and begins to burst in alligator tears until I calm her (but that's a whole 'nother funny story- I'm not insensitive, I promise). This one day, I begin to be extra persistent at giving her a sippy drink even though she kept shaking her head, avoiding the straw. Finally she got fed up with me, gave me a very stern look, pointed her finger and gave a solid grunt that obviously mimicked "NO." I couldn't help but secretly laugh at how well she picked up my expression, even though she better not get too good at this!