This is probably my last post about Lorenzo's sign language vocabulary because he's aquiring new words at a faster pace and is coupling most words with their verbal complement. I just wanted to capture some of his first words so I don't forget. Lately he's been enamored with tractor (ta ta) and truck (ta) signs. He's also picked up the signs for keys and bunny (sort of) and says the words juice and some of the syllables in jacuzzi (can't remember exactly how he says it, but I always understand what he means). I'm showing him a lot of animal signs now. His favorite books to look at now are our National Audobon Society Guide to Tropical Marine Fishes of the Carribean... and a children's book of everyday things. The interesting thing about the book of everyday things is that the objects/animals/people in the book are like clay forms of stuff like people, a horse, clock, etc. instead of photographs of the real things. I am amazed that children are able to identify things that way. Lorenzo will see a silhoutte of a dog with wings on a CD cover and will do the dog sign. Neat.
What makes me so happy about Lorenzo's communication is that not only can he share his world with us this way, but we can understand him as well. I think we could have figured out what he says anyway, but with the signs it is pretty clear. It's cute to also see him signing to other little kids and adults in the park or wherever we happen to be. Such a wonderful boy.