Communicating -- signs and words!

Our cute girl... just out of the tub! Our little Sammie is learning and growing all the time. This past few weeks have been a bit of a breakthrough with Sam's communication skills. She's now using a few words, as well as a few signs. It's so fun to ask her questions or tell her things when she's clearly making sense of things for herself:

• She shakes her head for "no" (which I'm actually glad about... delay the 'n' word as long as we can).
• When her food is gone or we finish doing something or all her toys are put away, she say her version of "all done." It sounds more like "ahhh dahh," which is adorable.
• She also says her version of "hi" which sounds like haahhhiee. (long on the "ah" sound, and long on the "eee" sound.)
• She still says her version of Daddy -- "Dadng" -- and seems to be saying it more consistently when Brian is around, as opposed to using it for everything, everywhere.
• She does some animal noises too; the owl says "whoooh, whoooh", the duck says "awwk, aaawwk," and the bear says "grrraarr, grarrr." (I know, those are not the traditional dog, cat, cow noises that kids usually start out with. But we have a book that Sam loves, that has all those less traditional animals with their sounds. So, we're starting her out with some quirky animal sounds.)

Samantha has also learned a few little signs for things. When she wants to take a bath, she pats her belly.

When she first learned this sign, she would do it five or six times a day, in hopes of being granted a nice bubble bath. She now usually only does it after she eats, as I'm washing her face and hands, cleaning her up. Because she's so consistent, she does get a bath almost every day now, whether she needs one or not!
Samantha has also learned a little sign for "more." When she wants more food or drink, she points her finger into the palm of her hand to ask. I've found she usually wants more raisins, more oranges, more granola bars. And she doesn't usually ask for more veggies. hmm...
So, these last picts are not of Sammie's signs, but instead they are some of the cute things she does these days. She has learned (presumably from Daddy) how to drink from her cereal bowl. As soon as her cereal is all done or "ahhh dahh" (which she now eats with a spoon, by herself!) she finishes it off by sipping down the last bits of milk.
She also climbs up into her chair all by herself, which is her way of telling me she would like something to eat. Yesterday and today, she seemed to be climbing up every hour... after breakfast, before lunch, after nap, before dinner... this is a girl with an appetite! I finally told her she would have to wait until dinner and I wasn't getting her any more snacks for a little while. She pulled out the tears and stood by her chair protesting for a good 2-3 minutes.
Samantha is also Mom's good helper girl with a lot of things! She has been helping me unload the dishwasher for a few months now. She pulls out plates, glasses, and pans almost faster than I can grab them from her and stack them safely on the counter to later put in the cupboards. I've been letting her help with the silverware tray recently (after I remove all sharp, dangerous utensils, of course). Here's the product of yesterday's helpful silverware unloader... First, she helped me put them all away nicely, then she put them all back into the dishwasher tray. Then she was quite insistant that she would handle things on her own and I did not need to help her organize things! I left the end result in the drawer as a special treat for Daddy this morning. heehehe.