Waving and pointing

Long ago Riley would say "ma-ma" to indicate he wanted his pacifier. Mysteriously, he dropped "ma-ma" a few months later. Around 11 months he started saying "uh-oh" to indicate that something had dropped on the ground. For months he's been using the term "da-da" but it seemed somewhat indiscriminate until lately. Now, when dad walks in the room, he clearly says "da-da." When Andy was away for four days, he stopped saying it and immediately resumed when his pops came home. He's also started saying "dah" which we think might mean "yes." [Perhaps his cousin Rene taught him some Russian?]

Other than that, we don't have a whole lot of words. Not very impressive for a 13-month-old.

To stimulate Riley's language, I decided to start using sign language. Last night I read a book about baby sign and was dismayed that it said babies who are ready to learn sign language will be waving bye-bye and pointing to objects. I was so deflated -- he doesn't do either of those. 

And then -- hallelujah -- the boy seemed to read my mind. Today, for the first time, I saw him wave bye-bye to his child care provider. And when I brought him home, he pointed for the very first time! What inspired the pointing, you ask? Meet Julio:

As of last night, to Andy's (and Riley's) great delight, Julio now resides on our mantle. Riley discovered him this evening and went nuts. Wide-eyed, he stared and pointed at Julio. He'd eat a little and then stop to point at Julio again. He couldn't take his eyes off of him. He was mesmerized and probably pointed at him a dozen times.

So it appears that Riley and his mom are ready to incorporate sign language at exactly the same time. First sign? Ram.