Saying a Few Words

Early on Elijah started saying Dada even though it took him awhile to figure out exactly what the word meant. For the longest time he would just repeat Dada over and over again. Jerod would try and respond with a "yes?" each time to help him make the association...eventually Eli figured it out. After that came Momma and surprisingly his first big word was "Cheerios." Now granted, he couldn't pronounce all the syllables properly, but you definitely knew what he was asking for. Cheerios are his all-time favorite food which is no wonder it was his first word after Dada and Momma.

Just recently he has also started to say "more" when he wants some more food and he has also learned the word "no." He's definitely a lot younger than I had anticipated in saying the word "no" but he doesn't say it in defiance because he's still getting the hang of what it means. Typically he'll go up to an object he knows he's not supposed to touch, such as the fan, and he'll point to it and say "no" then look at you for a response and walk away. At other times he just repeats the word over and over again with no apparent connection just to show off that he has mastered the use of a new word.

Our favorite word that he says though, is "Doh." For all you Simpsons fans out there, you'll understand how cool this was for Jerod to hear Elijah start saying it whenever something fell on the ground or went awry. I can't believe how early the mimicking starts and how we really need to be careful of what we say and do around him...kids are such sponges, hey?!