While Miles talks (and babbles) more and more each day, his capacity for understanding words has demonstrably outpaced his ability to verbally articulate them. When presented with binary options (yes/no, this/that), Miles will almost always nod and shake his head appropriately.
Riding home from daycare, I’ll usually ask Miles if he wants to listen to music, or whether he likes the song that’s playing, or if he’d rather sing a song than listen to one on the radio. Every time, he’ll respond with a nod or a shake. This is easy enough to figure out, but what’s harder is figuring out what he wants to eat. When hungry, he’ll often just point to the kitchen. What follows is usually a parade of foodstuffs and beverages, as we try, item by item, to figure out exactly what Miles wants. This can, at times, take multiple attempts to figure out, and Miles is willing to entertain about three guesses before he gets agitated, frustrated with our obvious incompetence.