Learning new words

We've been having lots of fun with language lately. E has been saying isolated words since January, but I(child) has been very quiet - using great non-verbal communication, but no words at all. Not long ago she started saying "hello" and "bye-bye" quite clearly - on a good day.

On Thursday my Mum and Dad (Nana and Poppa) were visiting, and Nana was watching the Little Kids play in and around the water trough. Nana was saying "duck" and E would repeat it (lots of times during the morning). Finally, I(child) seemed to get the idea of what this talking thing was about, and she repeated "duck", while holding the toy duck. She seemed very pleased with herself, and they played this naming game over and over. In the same way, I(child) also began to say "ball" and "boo" (as in "peek-a-boo"). Later in the day, after Nana and Poppa had gone, I(child) said "baby" while looking at the baby on some packaging.

When I's mother arrived (with I's grandad) I told this story. She very obligingly said "duck" without my prompting, just when I held up the toy duck and said "what's this". Clever girl! She did the same for a ball.

Altogether not a bad day's work - tripling the child's vocabulary!!

(New words today were "mum" and her name.)

(I thought it was about time I put some more pictures up - a bit boring otherwise.)