Fun with language

Kaitlin is a big talker. I mean, I think we're going to have a problem when it comes to school, because she really likes to talk, and at 16 months I'm a bit concerned that this trait is already prevalent. She's got a pretty good command of the language and has a ton of words, I think this in part due to the sign language we've taught her. Supposedly it helps with the "language explosion" when that point comes. But of course, she does not understand all the nuances of words and the different meanings. For example, one of her first words many months ago was "more," and that was also one of her first signs (tapping your fingers together). Cut to the end of October-ish, when there were still people that were mowing their lawn. She LOVES the sound of lawn mowers and whenever she would hear it when we were out walking, she would ask for "more." And as we would be walking I would tell her "that is a lawn mower Kaitlin." Well, she picked up the "mower" part of that and since then whenever we hear one or see Dad's in the garage she says "mower" while doing the sign for "more." When she started doing it a couple months ago, I made a point to emphasize the syllables and say it slowly, trying to show her how the words were different. All that did was lead her to what she does now, which is turn to me and say it very slowly and deliberately, and sign "more" very slowly, as though I'm slow and can't quite comprehend what she is saying.

Another cute "misunderstanding" was made apparent Friday morning when we were watching the Today Show. They were showing the airplane that went down in the Hudson and since she LOVES airplanes (much like buses - maybe it's a mass transportation obsession?) she basically started screaming "AIRPLANE!! AIRPLANE!" She quickly followed that with "water" and then a lightbulb went off in her head and she turned to me and screamed "SWIMMING!!!" So freaking cute.

Finally, Friday we had our second to last Kindermusik class. We took the Sign and Sing class where we learned alot of our sign language (highly recommended to those with babies). There is a song we sing at the beginning of every class, that is also on the DVD we got with the course. It goes:

Hello Kaitlin,
Hello Kaitlin,
Hello Kaitlin,
We're happy you are here.

You sing to each child around the room, and sign on the "hello," "happy" and "here." She loves this song and is often singing it around the house or in the car. The other day Scott was changing her diaper first thing in the morning and she kind of sleepily just signed and sang the 3 words "hellloooo.....happpyyy...hereee...." Back to Friday though, we were singing to everyone and she walked up to each child as we were singing to them, got about 5 inches from their face and sang the song SO LOUD and did the signs SO HARD, ending with a crescendo on the HERE! It was pretty hilarious and had all the moms in there laughing. I'm a little concerned that she's not only going to be a frequent talker, but it seems she will be a close talker too. She has a thing or two to learn about making friends I think. But when she does, I'm sure they will be talking all the time. :-)