KABOOM!

Did you hear that? I think it was the sound of Bry's recent language explosion rocking the rafters. I'm not sure exactly when the transition happened, but some time in the last month, he's started to talk. A lot. He loves to name things from the moment he wakes up until he drifts off to sleep. Tee! (tree), dar (car), boon (spoon), nana (banana), pate (plate). And so on.

Over the past week or so, he's also started to string multiple words together. For example, door, open, close. (Which actually sounds like this: Door, baben, bo.) Pot, sink, wash, dada (i.e., pot, ink, wa, dada). Or pot, stove (pot, dove). He seems to get some strings of words stuck in his head. A few days ago I offhandedly commented to Bry that it looked like our neighbor, Gregory, was moving his truck. Since then, he seems to say truck and move together (duck, moo) whenever he spots a truck. For a few days he got a kick out of running through all of the opposites he knew: up/down, hot/cold, open/close.

Granted, only Steve and I can understand most of what Bry's saying. Nevertheless, he's got more than 100 words at this point, or at least more than 100 consistent sounds that he uses to indicate particular objects, actions, or descriptors. He's dropped most of the baby signs that he previously used, though on occasion he will sign and speak at the same time.

It's hard to describe how exciting it's been to watch Bry's language develop. He adds new words everyday and has a keen ear for repeating the last words of sentences that Steve and I use (guess it's time to start being a little more cautious about what we say, huh?). It's as if each day we get another peak at what goes on inside Bry's head. We know what he's thinking about (usually pots and pans or going outside), at least some of the time, as he chatters on in his pure stream of consciousness. Everyone we know with older kids has told us that there will come a day when the longing to communicate with Bry and to hear his thoughts will transform into the fervent wish that he stop talking long enough so that we can hear our own thoughts. But for now, we're reveling in watching Bry grow up, even though it comes with the bittersweet realization that bit by bit, he is also growing away.