Ruby is starting to make progress in two kinds of communcation recently:
1. Signing. She has been doing the sign for “milk” for maybe two months now, and tends to use it whenever she wants something or more of something. We were excited about it at first, but that subsided when she used it indiscriminately. Lately, though, she has begun to differentiate between her excited hand-grabbing movements and a more deliberate “milk” sign.
Then, just last week, we noticed her finally doing what appeared to be the sign for “more“. She doesn’t always do it, but what’s interesting is that she not only applies it to food (where we have been doing it), but also to games she likes (we haven’t been doing it in that situation). It’s exciting to watch her take that mental leap and apply “more” to all things she wants more of.
2. Speaking. She’s been babbling for a few months now, and her sounds keep getting more intricate. Now she combines several different consonant and vowel sounds in gibberish “sentences” which are fun to hear.
Just yesterday, we got the first glimmer that maybe she is learning words. Steve and I were playing with Ruby together, and noticed she made more “ma” and “muh” sounds when I was holding her, and more “pa” and “ppph” sounds when Steve was holding her. We could be imagining things, but we’re now listening more carefully.