Jack jargon

Warning: this post contains excessive bragging.

The other day I read an article that said the average 20-month-old has a 12-15 word vocabulary. I decided to sit down and make a list of Jack’s current vocabulary. And I think it is safe to say that Jack has gone above and beyond the average. I'm so proud of my boy.

 

The following is a list, in no particular order, of the words and phrases Jack uses on a regular basis and in the correct context:

* words that he says and signs

milk*, please*, baby, blanket, cereal*, yucky, ouch and/or ow, cat, meow, dog, woof, cow, moo, choo-choo, mom, dad, water*, more*, Jesus (sounds a little like ‘cheeses’ but we know what he means), amen, book, ball*, bye-bye, see ya, cheese*, thank you*, Mason (his friend here at the facility), shoes*, socks*, toot, head, belly button, eye, ear, mouth, brush teeth*, outside, okay, eww (I know this isn’t really a word but he uses it a lot and it’s cute so I included it), food*, banana*, treat, bum, where’d it go?, what’s that?, one* (when asked how old he is he’ll hold up one finger and say ‘one’), all done*, good boy, no no (usually repeated dozens of times in quick succession), don’t, uh-oh, mine, let’s go, hot*, fly, juice, sorry tickle tickle, Emily (she works here at the storage facility and I’m pretty sure Jack’s in love with her), phone, the end

This doesn’t even include all of the words that he says but doesn’t use on a frequent basis. Today he started saying ‘Grandma’ which was adorable. (I think I can say with some confidence that my mom is crying as she reads this.) Lately he has been tearing it up with the signing so I’ve been teaching him lots of new signs and he has picked all of them up really quickly.

According to the nursery leaders in our ward Jack loves to play with the dolls lately. (He must be prepping himself for February.) We got a glimpse of this last week when Jared won a stuffed football for Jack out of a claw machine at the grocery store. Jack carried it around all night. He rocked it, shushed it and sang it songs. It made me cry a little bit. Then Jared wrapped it up in Jack's blanket and now he always wants me to wrap up his baby. Of course Jack would use a football as a baby. This kid may have a tender, little heart but he is obsessed with sports. I give Jared all the credit for that.

It has a face which to Jack equals baby.

I hope he loves his baby sister this much.

And when he's sick of cuddling he can play catch with it! I hope he doesn't try to do this with Olive.