Have We Finally Gotten Colors?

I mentioned to a friend a couple of weeks ago that I felt like Jude's language had hit a stopping point. That for a couple of months his vocabulary had stalled out on the same 20 or so words - only a handful of which he really, truly embraces every day.

Around this same time - a couple months ago - I started working with Jude on a number of things. We were talking about colors A LOT. We were talking about letters, working on counting, while also talking as much as possible about the world around us and naming things we see, do and hear. I enjoy doing these things, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me (just a little) that he wasn't as receptive to it all as I'd hoped (geeze! He's not even 2 yet! What kind of expectations to I have for this kid!)

It seems like the side comment to a friend was some sort of jinx. Within days after saying it, it seems like Jude's vocabulary has started to expand exponentially. Out of no where, he start saying things like "watch mommy!" when he was doing something he wanted to show me. He started saying "woof" almost every second of the day, instead of 'dog' - a word he used previously, but infrequently. He started saying words like "please" and "more" instead of signing them. This is in no way a comprehensive list of things he's saying now, but some of the biggest changes I've seen. In addition words that were mumbled and said in a way that only a mother could understand are being annunciated and spoken more clearly.

But perhaps something equally as exciting is that he's starting to pick up on the colors more. It seems that perhaps he's known them all along and was just waiting to put names to them. Unless he's holding up an object and proudly telling me that the particular object in his hand is "blue!", the words don't seem to make any sense. However, when he holds up three objects in a row saying "BWEW!" (which some how sounds a lot like his version of 'ball'), "ORRG!" and "RECH" labeling each object with it's respective color, it's quite clear what he's trying to get across.

I'm continuously impressed by his growth and amazed at how fun it is to watch someone who used to be so helpless grow into such an strong minded individual!