Please, thank you, and other words

What a difference a year makes! When 2011 started, Jonah was working on sitting up on his own on a regular basis. As we roll into 2012, he walks, talks, and knows how to unlock the dishwasher and open the door. If only he could reach to put the dishes away!

We already knew Jonah could recognize words and was saying some words (Michelle recently wrote on his growing understanding of colors), but in the past few weeks, he has really started to use words and to better understand the meaning behind them. He still has some of the "mine" and "no" in him, but we are encouraging him to use his words to better communicate what he wants, and to ask when he wants something instead of just saying "mine!"

With this in mind, he is learning to say please with things. He is especially cute because he signs with it when he says it, but sometimes using both hands (which is closer to "bath" in sign language). We used to have to say "More what?" or "Up what?" to squeeze the "pleash (please)" out of him, but he is starting to put the words together on his own with greater frequency. 

His requests themselves are becoming a little more accurate, too (except when it comes to food - he still thinks we are fishing for a "please" when we ask him what he would like "more" of...). He asks to "read please" or to turn a light or toy "on please" or to "open please" or "mik (milk) please." The request for turning a toy on is actually pretty rare, because one of the first things he does with any toy seems to be to figure out how to turn it on and off. He has a new toy where a knob sticks a little, though, so he has some trouble with it.

Even more fun, especially during Christmas-time, was that he started to learn "thank you." It was just something where one of us said "Can you say thank you, Jonah?" and he shocked us by actually doing it! With this new found word, he was able to personally thank everyone for his Christmas gifts. Sometimes he even surprises us by using it on his own without prompting when a request has been filled for "more" or "up." Sure, it comes out more like "dangkyu," but its meaning is certainly clear.

A grateful little guy

On top of the polite words, Jonah is also starting try some larger words. Usually this is just repeating us, but it is so cute to see him working on words like "alligator" (as part of an Eric Carle animal flash card set or the Nuchi animal train set his Auntie Julie got him for Christmas).

One of our new favorites, though, is a simple word: "yeah." We used to ask what book he wants to read and go through a stack. He would say no, no, no... until we got to the one he wanted, and he would just grab it. Now he says, "yeah!" We can also ask him things like "do you need a diaper change?" or "do you want some milk?" and he will say "yeah."

One of my favorite uses so far was tonight. After reading a bedtime story, I told him "I had a really good day with you today, Jonah. Did you have a good day?"

Snuggling his head into my shoulder, he said "Yeah!"