Isabelle Bentley

Isabelle is now a full, real walker. She's been doing laps around the kitchen and up and down the hallway all by herself. She has begun to say two word phrases. So far only " hi dada" and when she plays with her dolls - she puts it in the crib with a blanket over it and says "nuh night baby" - but still. She has memorized books and begun to fill in missing words. She sings entire songs to herself (although most words are gibberish, the cadence is the same). She's begun to memorize the alphabet song and can fill in letters when you stop. She follows commands really well. She's started to give hugs and kisses. Several times she's picked up a wrapper on the ground and walked it to the trash can, opened the door, and put it in all by herself. And you would never even know she had tonsils & adenoids removed this week. She hasn't really cried. She's been eating and drinking everything as normal. This kid is a tro...

Isabelle is saying roughly 15 words: apple, tickle, cheese, up, down, yeah, hi, bye, mama, dada, Jack, Izzie, all done, yum, star and dance.  She is also trying to imitate different words and sounds such as "sh", animal noises (moo, baaa), E-I-E-I-O. She also tries to fill in the end of songs. So if you say "twinkle, twinkle, little" and then pauses, she will try to say the end word. She does this for itsy bitsy spider too.

Isabelle's newest word is "all done" which she pronounces "ee dah". You might be thinking - how is that close? So, first, I am not sure it IS a word.  There are two kinds of words kids say: things they repeat but don't know the meaning of (imitation) and words they know the meaning for. I am 100% confident she is repeating it. I know it doesn't sound like "all done" but when Jack first said all done it was "ah dah". When I say "all done" she ALWAYS says "ee dah". And 90% of the time she has the same hand motion for it. Now, she doesn't necessarily say it when she's done doing something means it's likely imitation but she does sometimes. It's mixed. As long as a kid is saying something consistently - it doesn't matter how close it is to the actual word. Same with signing.  She follows directions really well too. 

I am 99% convinced Isabelle is saying hi. It doesn't sound 100% like it but it's an approximation. I'm counting it as her first word.