Subtle Milestones

I have waited so long to be able to communicate with Rachel, and if you were to ask me if we she can communicate, I would likely say no.  Rachel cannot speak in sentences.  For the most part she will not utter more than two syllables.  But just this week I was thinking about how many new words Rachel has added to her list of words she says that I can understand, and I realized that she is already communicating.  Below is a typical conversation.    

Rachel:  Mommy? 
Me:  What? 
Rachel:  I eat.
Me:  What do you want? 
Rachel:  etzel
Me:  You want pretzels?
Rachel:  Yes.
Rachel:  Mommy?
Me:  What?
Rachel:  wovie.  I watch.
Me:  What movie to you want to watch? 
Rachel:  agon
Me:  You want to watch Dragons (short for How To Train Your Dragon)?
Rachel:  Yes 
Rachel:  Mommy?
Me:  What? 
Rachel:  I milk. 
Me:  Do you want water instead? 
Rachel:  No!  Milk!      

Suddenly, I have come to realize that we are carrying conversations every day!  It has happened so slowly that I have not noticed how much Rachel actually does say.  The words and requests are simple, and no one else would know what she was talking about, but ever so slowly Rachel is making progress toward becoming a talker, and I could not be more excited!