uh-oh and ah-dah

Elijah is "saying" two more "words," although I am not sure if either of them qualify as words. One of them is "uh-oh." He is more and more accurate about the timing when "uh-oh" is appropriate, like when he falls, for example.

Another "word" is "ah-dah," meaning "all done." He usually says it when he is done with a book (as if saying "I am done with this book, let's do another one"), done playing with a puzzle (as if saying "I don't want to play with this one any more, take it away"), or done being on the changing table. He is usually done being on the changing table well before we are done changing his diaper, so he is lying there, signing "all done" and repeatedly saying "ah-dah," as if telling us to hurry up!

You may have noticed that neither of these words are Russian. I can understand that "hi" is easier than any Russian greeting, but "all done" in Russian is actually just one syllable: "vsyo"! It may be that the consonantal cluster "vs" may be challenging for him, plus we haven't heard him make either "v" or "s" sounds yet. Oh well. I guess I'll have to wait a while longer. :)

He also says "sentences" of random sounds, but the amazing thing (at least to us), is that the intonation and the number of syllables usually correspond to something we would have said to him at the time. For example, he usually plays peek-a-boo with his towel after a bath. He covers his face with it, and we say "Where's Elijah?" One day he covered his face and said something that sounded so much like "Where's Elijah" except that that actual sounds were wrong, but the intonation was exactly right! Once again, these "sentences" follow English inflection, perhaps because English sounds so much more "melodic" than Russian, or at least the expressive baby version of it that Daddy uses does. (Mommy doesn't do baby talk in Russian, so maybe it's not as exciting for him to imitate. Who knows.)

P.S. The next day after this posted was originally composed, Elijah stopped saying "all done" to books and puzzles. Instead, he is now saying it as soon as we try to put on his sandals to go outside. He doesn't really mind the sandals, but he doesn't have the patience to wait till they are on. It's so funny, as soon as we put him on our lap, he immediately says his "ah-dah".