Words words words

Dear Zoe, Recently, some people have asked how many words you are saying.  I do my best to recall the ones you use often, but lately it seems like you are saying more words each day!  As of today, 2 days shy of being 16 months old, these are your words--

dada
mama
hi
bye
ball
book
cheese
up
tea
hot
Ellen
Elmo (Ellen and Elmo both sound like LaLa, but you know the difference between the two)
shoes
cookie
keys
more (this is new as of today- you are signing more and saying it at the same time- such a smarty pants!)
ba (this is what you call your paci- not really a word, but I know what you mean when you are calling for it!)

That makes approximately 17 words (I am probably forgetting some) that you are consistently saying knowing what they mean.  According to BabyCenter, at 16 months, MOST toddlers should be saying 7. You are saying more than double that! Such an overachiever.

In addition to those words, you can point out your nose, eyes, ears, teeth and toes.  You also can tell me what a cow says (oooo!), what a piggy says (snort, snort!) and sometimes what a sheep says (aaa!).    You can also communicate to me when you are hungry ("mama- mmmmm") or when you are thirsty ("mama- ahhh")

You definitely understand more than you can speak.  I will ask you to go and get your shoes from your room, and you toddle off and return shoes in hand.   Just today, we were getting ready to go out and I asked where my keys were and you went and got them from the floor in the living room.  You are such a helpful little lady.

Mmmmmm!  Enjoying some delicious cuisine.

xoxo, the mama