Vocabulary (month 20)

Thanks to Daddy being home and our visits to friends and family, Jamie's vocab seems to be increasing by the day!

www.Gurgle.com confirm that this month your toddler’s vocabulary comes on in leaps and bounds. He can now say many words and will start to pair words up, ‘milk’ will become ‘want milk’ or ‘me hungry’. Keep up that running commentary you’ve been doing since your toddler was a tiny baby. If a friend comes round and you are chatting make sure your toddler is in the room with you, as toddlers learn as much from hearing people speak as they do people speaking to them.

Most children need no help with talking and go quickly from babbling their first words to spilling out as many words as they can in a breath. Your toddler’s comprehension almost doubles by the time they get to a year-and-a-half and the number of words he knows will expand daily. You can help your toddler to talk by starting early and giving them lots of your time and encouragement. Jamie certainly babbles and every so often a word pops out that we recognise. We play the pointing game regularly; "Show me the ....." and Jamie has started to repeat words. He adds a new word every few days. Last week it was Santa!!

Give everything a name
Name everything in your toddler's world verbally; so if you are bathing him name the duck, taps, water, bubbles, wet toes, wet fingers, wet nose… and so on. When you are in the park name the trees, swings, birds, flowers, other people around you, so that everything in your toddler's world has a name. Use your baby’s name as much as you can so he is aware of his own identity i.e Is it Jamie’s bathtime now? Already doing check!!

Read to your child
Reading to your baby at a young age helps them to hear and understand the inclinations and emotions of speech. You can point to a picture and say the word, ‘fire engine’ to help them recognise the names for things. If you are telling a story use different voices for each character and even different accents if you can manage. Already doing check!!

Listen to what your baby is saying
When you ask your baby a question, wait to see what his response is; it might be a smile, a look towards a toy, or even a babble but it is a response. Try to answer the babbles as if you were having a proper conversation, so say, ‘Really, how interesting, what a lovely day you’ve had’. If your baby is trying to tell you something, help them by pointing to what it might be, for instance, do you want milk? Your book? Your shoes? And wait for them to respond to what you are pointing at. Already doing check!!

Numbers and colours
Use numbers and colours as much as you can for things, for example, ‘Look, I can see two red buses’ or ‘Look at those three yellow flowers, can you see them?’ Sing songs which help to teach your toddler numbers like ‘Ten green bottles’ or ‘One, two, buckle my shoe’. Try to count things out as much as possible, so when you give your toddler some food say, ‘Two slices of carrot for you’.

Baby language
Try not to use too much baby language as you talk as babies learn to speak faster if you talk to them normally. That does not mean you have to insist on him calling you 'mum', you can still use words like dolly, daddy and mummy while they are small.

Give your toddler choices
Choices enable your toddler to respond and talk back, so if you have a bowl of fruit say, 'Which piece of fruit would you like; the banana, apple or pear?' Give your toddler a chance to reply, even by pointing. Hide things and see if your toddler can find them, so say, ‘Where is your ball? Is it under the slide, or in the sandpit?' Then wait till your toddler responds, or runs over to find the ball.

Corrections
Try not to correct your toddler too much when he mis-pronounces words or uses the wrong word for an object, or he may give up trying. Repeat back the sentence using the right word, for instance, if he says, ‘Wan milw..’ you can say, ‘You want the milk, ok, I’ll get it’. As cute as it is when toddlers mis-pronounce words, try not to repeat them back as your toddler will use them more if she sees it makes you laugh.

Frustration
Unfortunately as your toddler starts to be able to communicate with you, he will also become frustrated at not being able to get his point across. He simply cannot find the right words, but wants you to know something. This usually results in a tantrum, or a very red-faced frustrated toddler. Try to listen to your child when he is trying to tell you something and always give him choices; 'do you want to wear your welly boots or your blue shoes? Is better than saying 'what do you want to wear? for example.