Monday Minute: Words

At our 18 month check up the doctor asked if Drew can say "at least 10-20" words. I said "yes!" but after the appointment wondered just how many words he can say. Jason and I started listing them off and stopped when we got to 50... my little boy is definitely a chatter box!

Drew's favorite words are...

sun

turtle

flower 

kitty

Rico

car ("boom boom" for vroom vroom)

He's had this "First Words" book for a while. We don't read it a lot, so I was shocked to realize he actually knows all the words in the book!

The next step will be making phrases. He has a few memorized phrases like "bless you", "thank you", and "help me" but doesn't really put two words together on his own yet. He did surprise me by pointing to a picture of our friends' baby girl, Avery, and saying "baby Avwee!".

Language teaching being my area of "expertise" I really find it fascinating watching him learn to talk. The most interesting thing is how he learns words that make me wonder where he learned them. Not bad words, or even weird words, but simple, every day words that you say in passing but don't really "teach". Words like pocket or door.

I've heard people say "you spend the first year teaching your kid to walk and talk, then the next 17 teaching them to sit down and shut up". I understand the sentiment, but I am honestly excited to hear what my little boy has to say!

Monday Minute: From the backseat

This is how Drew entertains himself in the backseat of the van...

Funny to hear yourself coming out of your child's mouth... and how horrible it can sound! You can guess what word he has been hearing a lot of lately... (and no, I don't mean "why"... though that will be fun later...). I'm really not sure why he starts slapping his leg while saying it... I promise we don't hit. We haven't even spanked him. (And no, I'm not opening discussion on behavior management techniques... just saying). 

I have learned that the best way to prevent kids from saying "no" all the time is to avoid saying it yourself- to find a way to rephrase the "no" into a "yes". But let's be honest, "no" is the quickest, easiest way to get to the point. Especially if your child is about to climb up to the hot stove top, or yank the angry cat's tail, or pinch his Mommy... 

And I've been finding it kind of amusing lately to watch him actually express opinions using "no". The other day Jason offered Drew a bite of macaroni and cheese, which Drew happily ate. I then offered a bite of mashed potatoes. He looked at the fork, then shook his head and matter-of-factly said "No. No. No." and turned back to Jason for more macaroni.

I'd say a few "no"s sprinkled between the "bless you"s and "thank you"s is okay.