More signs and sounds

We've been working with Oliver trying to teach him more signs so he can tell us more specifically what he wants. Thus far he has 'more' and 'please' down. We've been working on 'spin', 'cookie', 'drink' and 'thank you'. After we begin to repeat each sign with him non-stop he'll start to kind of figure it out. Usually when we know what he wants we'll ask him for example, "Do you want another cookie?" and after hearing the word he'll make the sign, but he rarely does it on his own without our cues. So he'll often come to us, sign 'more' and then he knows he usually gets something after that. The trick is to get him to be more specific and communicate that to us.

Also, Oliver has been learning lots about animals. He can make an elephant sound which cracks him up when I (dad) make the sound and move my arms like an elephant trunk. He also makes his version of a cat sound which is the softest little sound anyone could ever make. It's like the tiniest little grunt that sounds almost like a cat, but it's his version. Lastly, he's been saying mama again! He says it randomly for the most part but there have been a few times that it seems as if he is addressing Ciara by saying it, either way we are just happy to hear it. Happy Easter everyone. Just for fun I added some pics from a couple weeks ago when I put Oliver's shoes on over his pj onsie to play outside. He played with Ozzie's ball and Ozzie would chase him. It was lots of fun.

Signing, Playing and Maybe a First Word

Over the past couple months Oliver has continued to develop. We've been working on his signing a lot. He's great at signing 'more' and 'please.' We try to get him to sign exactly what he wants and he'll occasionally sign 'drink' when he's thirsty. He also makes the same sound when he signs 'more' which even sounds a lot like more, but without the 'm.'

Oliver has shown a lot more interest in playing with us. He still doesn't really want to play with other kids, but he always wants Ciara and I to play with him. To get our attention he'll run into a room and close the door. Then he starts banging on it until one of us goes to get him. It's a fun game he's developed. He absolutely loves playing chase, especialfly if he's being chased by a monster. He has little interest in object games. He mostly wants to run and have you chase him. He does sometimes play with his basketball hoop. I used to grunt 'You made it!' and he would laugh hysterically.

As of a few days ago, we noticed Oliver making a sound that sounded a lot like 'no.' Today we heard it again and investigated further. We gave him Ciara's old wallet and I tried to take it from him and he jerked it back and said 'nah.' Then Ciara tried the same thing and he did the same thing. We think his first word just might be 'No.' While we are super excited we don't know how to encourage him when he disagrees with us. Hopefully this is a sign of more words in the near future. He has ben making a lot more sounds. He still doesn't really jabber, they are more like different shouts here and there with different consonants and vowels.