I have wanted to post some words that Nora knows. The pediatrician said we will be amazed at how fast she learns English. Well we are amazed! This weekend we turned a corner. Nora carried her boots over to Brad and sat down to put them on. Brad looks at me and said I think she wants to go o-u-t (He spelled out so she couldn’t understand him because we were sure she would throw a fit if she heard the word out and didn’t get to go outside!) We are already spelling words to try and outsmart her.
We have had Nora for one month. She has been home for three weeks already. We mainly speak English to her. We know a few Mandarin words, mostly commands for her, but we have stopped speaking to her in Chinese since she seems to understand us so well.
At this point, these are some words she can say. I am sure I am missing some…
Nora, Clara, Dana, Mama, Buba (She still calls Brad Bubba, the Mandarin word for Dad.), Tucker, Isla, more, up, bottle, bubble, baby, ball, bump, nose, water (for drinking, in her bath and in puddles), tail (She is super curious about Tucker’s tail and points to it all the time.), apple, rain, hello, hi, no, bye, yum, run run run, shake shake shake, ready go, jump, open, yeah, uh oh, and all done. She says ishy for fishy, poon for spoon, hota for hot. She also says in a sing song voice, Clara where are you? Dana where are you? Buba where are you? Mama where are you? and Isla where are you? She seems to understand that we are looking for these people or they are not home and we are wondering where they are. Friday I said, Nora where are you? And she yelled HI!
She mimics these words pretty clearly… noodle, wait, outside, down, hot, hat, cold, please, thank you, Gram, Papa, Nana, eyes, mouth, ear, toes, hair, sweet potatoes, cracker, shoes, close, chew, bowl, drink and hold hand.
She loves onomatopoeia. She says moo for cow, quack for duck, cheep for chick, baack baack for chicken, meow for cat, beep for car, oink for pig, brum brum for truck, bus or lawn mower, and peee you and holds her nose for stinky.
She rolls her hands if she wants you to sing wheels on the bus. She rubs her cheek for the baby crying verse and holds her finger up to her mouth for the mom says shhh verse. She says ei ei o if she wants you to sing Old MacDonald. She sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It is so cute. She doesn’t say the words but she says jibberish that sounds like the tune and similar to the words to the song.
She thinks a frog is a fish. She make a noise with her lips for fish.
She does some sign language and some made up signs for swim, fly, rain, butterfly, wind, what? or Where?, zipper, sleeping, splash, eating, more and hugs. She gives high five, thumbs up and fist bumps.
She understands quite a lot. One day she took some garbage and walked to the garbage can and threw it away! We hadn’t even showed her or told her how to do that. She knows which shoes goes to which person and will bring them to you if she wants to go outside. If she wants to keep eating she refuses to let you unbuckle her chair.
She shakes her head no a lot! 🙂
She mimics the dog in every way. If he shakes, she shakes. If he pants, she pants. If he sneezes, she pretends to sneeze. If he is eating, she says yum yum and pretends to eat. If he barks, she needs to see what is going on. If is tail is wagging, she is quick to point it out or grab it! She says run run run if he is running in the yard. She also likes to boss him around. She says all done Tucker, hi Tucker, wait Tucker and her favorite… no Tucker no!
She understands our routines and seems to understand what bath time means, time to go brush your teeth, let’s change your diaper, go get your shoes, go get in your chair to eat, go upstairs, go downstairs, time for bed, time for nap, time to eat, go get your dish, do you want a drink, let’s go outside, let’s go inside, let’s get in the car, steps, walk, run, hold hands, stop crying, splash, ready set go, dance, high five, fist bump, thumbs up, hugs, wait (which she sometimes listens to and sometimes not 🙂 and no.
It is just a joy to see her exploring and learning. She does have hydrocephalus (I’ll write more on that another day) and we weren’t sure how much she could learn so it is a huge deal to us when she is learning so much so quickly. This is a beautiful miracle from God that we are blessed to get the chance to see.
CoulsonFamily 