Word explosion

Three weeks ago, Robbie still only had 37 words. They were sporadic, usually only when pressed, and some labeling (kitty, while pointing, for example.)  He babbled all the time, but didn't really say much.
Today Robbie has roughly 110 words. Possibly more, it's hard to keep up.

He's learning to use his words to ask for what he needs. This morning he insisted "off off off" while tugging on his pajama shirt sleeve. He apparently needed to be shirtless. Last night at dinner, he needed "cheese!" It's awesome.

I have loved getting to know him a little more, seeing some of the workings of his brain. I now know that he loves clocks and lights. I know because he points out every single one of them that he sees. Do you know how many lights and clocks there are in the world? A lot. No, I mean a lot. It's cute, but exhausting. He isn't happy until you acknowledge each light or clock he has pointed out. "Yes honey, it's a clock, same as it was 45 seconds ago."

In a really interesting discovery, it turns out that Robbie knows some of his letters. He's been saying "O" for a a week or two. There is a big O from his puzzle mat that he carries around a lot. I figured he'd memorized that it was called an O. Then one day he insisted on having a wooden R from his shelf, calling it by name "Awr!" (These days he's made it a two syllable word- "awrer!")  He loves that wooden R, sometimes needing to sleep with it at night.

Then he started naming all the Bs he saw- on the wall, in books, on signs. Okay, now he knows all the letters from Rob. That makes sense, there are a lot of those around the house. But this weekend, all of a sudden, he was naming Fs & As & Ds- picking them out of a pile of letters or on a page. How can he have 100 words and 6 of them be letters? I've been joking that he's going to be able to read before he can speak in sentences. That's my Robbie; he always does things in a unique way.

With the language explosion, he's definitely parroting everything we say. He doesn't know what everything means, but he retains a lot of it quickly. That works out nicely because it's a good way to distract him. If you really need to get his attention, you just ask him to repeat his ABCs. It's win-win- he behaves and he learns!

I think this about every stage, but so far this is my favorite. Getting to hear his adorable little voice all the time just makes my whole day. I think you should hear it, too.




--Trish