John is 21 months old, and his language has just exploded. Actually, he has been very verbal all along, just like James and Maggie were. The difference is that we haven't been able to understand the vast majority of the paragraphs he spouts off all the time.
Now, he likes to spend about 20-30 minutes each morning frantically bringing books and pointing at everything, impatiently waiting for someone to tell him the words to name everything. His words now include (and I am sure I am forgetting many):
Mama, Mommy
Daddy
Ba-Pa! (Grandpa)
Kee-Kee (Uncle, especially Uncle Jim, but occasionally Uncle Jeff)
John
sa-sa (pacifier)
tickle
Uh-oh!
Oww! (he has really learned the melodrama for this one. I have watched this child through multiple blood tests lay still and unperturbed. He barely flinches for a shot. But when I tried to cut his hair, you would have thought I was eviscerating him. Change a dirty diaper when he isn't in the mood, and it sounds like he has been tossed in the Lion's Den. Never just a wordless crying; always a carefully enunciated "oww" designed to express maximum hurt and pain.)
I-wanna-see...Oh.
I-want-that
I-need-that
I-want-more
I-want-milk
bite
I-want-a-bite
side (as in other side, when nursing)
cookie
cracker (includes pretzels, chips, and all crunchy snacks)
sa-sauce (applesauce)
cheese
cha-cha (broccoli)
cup
hot
NO
huh (yes)
Hi! (uttered cheerfully to anyone he walks past in public)
bye!
thank-you
'Lo! (phone, as in "hello")
truck
garbage truck
ball
car
boat
bike
door
shoe
sock
eye
ear
nose
hat
head
coat
'side (outside)
dog
meow (cat, or similar-appearing animals, like rabbits)
kitty
baa-baa (sheep, or several other farm animals like cows)
quack-quack (duck)
fishy
turkey (learned this with delight when he saw a wild turkey at close range)
Ok, here's a challenge for John. Let's see if by his 3rd birthday (or whenever I see him in 2010), who has the larger useful vocabulary. Uncle (kee kee) Jeff in Bulgarian, or John in English. I don't think I'll have a chance, but we'll see. I imagine we'll learn a lot of the same words, and some very different ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks for starting/sharing your blog. If I can't convince you to get on Facebook, this is a good start. Shannon and/or myself will have a blog for Bulgaria, for sure, so we'll let you know when we get it set up.