Language Learning

I think we've crossed that "language explosion" threshold over here - Gus and Gibson have been chattering up a storm! It's pretty cute to watch their vocabulary expand and language develop. Here are a few highlights.

• "Hey! Hey! Blaaaanket!" <or other noun> Most often said by Gibson when he sees something new or unexpected. In this example, he got up from nap and observed a blanket on the couch.
• Singing "A-B-C-A-B-C-A-B-C" as the alphabet song
• When they see text, they point and say "letters!" They also say "numbers" sometimes...I am not sure if they understand that letters and numbers are different yet.
• "Me eat ALL!" Said in reference to any food item, such as a box of 40 mini pancakes. "Me eat all pa-pace!" "No," says brother, "ME eat all!" "Boys," I say, "We have plenty of pancakes for everyone."
• And that leads to the first 5-word sentence I heard, "No eat all apples, Gus!" said Gibson, after Gus threatened to polish off a two-pound sack.
• Verb confusion with words like see/look. "No see me," they say, when they mean don't look at me. Most often accompanied by a stay-back gesture when sitting on the potty. 
• Subject/object confusion such as saying "show me" while pulling on my hand, meaning I want to show you something

This afternoon, they had a whole conversation about an ice pack and things that are cold. It went on for a few minutes without any input from me. I was impressed! 

I was told that a good rule of thumb for language development is that by age 3, your kids should be understood by other people (not immediate family members) about 80% of the time. Oh my. I spend all day with them and I only understand like 50-60% of what they say. Good thing we have a few months to work on our pronunciation before their 3-year check up.